cricket

Updated: Dec 29, 2018 08:34 IST

Jasprit Bumrah was unarguably the star performer for India on Day 3 of their third Test match against Australia in Melbourne on Friday. Bumrah claimed career best figures of 6/33 to dismiss Australia for a meagre 151.

The fast bowler was brilliant in the first two sessions, accounting for the wickets of Marcus Harris (22), Shaun Marsh (19), Travis Head (20), Tim Paine (22) and the tailenders Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood for ducks.

Bumrah’s career best figures also made him the only Asian bowler to take five wickets or more against Australia, England and South Africa in the same calendar year.

READ: Virat Kohli ends 2018 with a duck, misses out on multiple records

When asked about his wickets, Bumrah revealed the piece of advice from his Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma which helped him in dismissing Shaun Marsh.

“When I was bowling there [first session], the wicket had become really slow, the ball had become soft, nothing was happening. The last ball before lunch, Rohit [Sharma] was at mid off. He told me ‘you can try a slower ball like you do in ODI cricket’,” Bumrah told the BCCI media in Melbourne on Friday.

“I thought, ‘yeah I can give it a go’ as nothing was happening. We thought some of their guys play with hard hands and we wanted to try that and the execution was good on the day.

Where did the slower ball come from? Bumrah reveals



Man of the moment @Jaspritbumrah93 on THAT delivery to Shaun Marsh, his 6-wicket haul at the G and his rich vein of form in whites this year



▶️▶️https://t.co/2RqOXmf4K1 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/61GYYCLluf — BCCI (@BCCI) December 28, 2018

“I was trying to bowl a full, slower ball. I thought maybe it will dip or go to short cover. That was the plan and it worked,” he added.

Later, Pat Cummins picked up four wickets in eight balls to reduce India to 54/5 at stumps.Mayank Agarwal (28 batting) and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant (6 batting) went back unscathed, taking India’s second innings lead to 346 runs when the umpires dislodged the bails for the day.