Australian great Allan Border says Jasprit Bumrah is the new Sir Richard Hadlee

There are two Test matches at the Gabba – Australia v Jasprit Bumrah, Australia v The Rest. Now the pace bowling great has drawn comparisons with another tormentor of Australian cricket.

Allan Border says Jasprit Bumrah has revived memories of the great Sir Richard Hadlee and is demanding to be rated among the greats of his craft.

West Indian Malcolm Marshall, whom Border frequently faced in the 1980s, is often rated the best fast bowler of all time and Border feels Indian spearhead Bumrah is not far behind and his presence has echoes of the great New Zealander Hadlee.

“The stats don’t lie – Bumrah is averaging about 20 runs per Test wicket and at home in India he plays on spinning decks,’’ Fox Cricket’s Border told this masthead.

“That’s remarkable. He reminds me a bit of Hadlee is that when he comes on it is just a different game and a different level to the other bowlers.’’

When Bumrah took his fifth wicket of the Australian first innings, Travis Head edging behind, it was his 12th five wicket haul in 43 Tests and gave him 17 wickets at 11 for the series. Extraordinary. There are two Test matches at the Gabba – Australia v Bumrah and Australia v The Rest.

Most of the Bumrah damage has been inflicted on Australia’s opening batsmen Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney who have fallen to him seven times for 29 runs.

McSweeney has been ruthlessly targeted and has scored just 12 runs from 52 balls from Bumrah including four dismissals.

“Bumrah is such a threat. I can’t properly compare him to Marshall because I never faced Bumrah but just watching him there is not much is it.

India's Jasprit Bumrah has enjoyed a stunning series to date. Picture: AFP

“Bumrah is remarkable. He rarely bowls a spell without taking a wicket. He is different. Because of his action he lets the ball go later.

“And he smiles all the time. He can beat a batsman three times in a row and smile each time. I have never seen anyone like him.’’

At a lunch for the Usman Khawaja Foundation two days before the Test, Khawaja said the challenge of facing Bumrah was accentuated because he was one of the rare fast men who had “everything.’’

“He’s got a lot of skills, he’s very accurate,’’ Khawaja said.

“It’s very hard to get a combination of everything. When you’ve got a bowler who takes a lot of wickets they usually leak runs. then you get bowlers who are very economical and don’t leak runs but it takes them a bit longer to get wickets. Bumrah does everything.’’

Originally published as Australian great Allan Border says Jasprit Bumrah is the new Sir Richard Hadlee