'Back at Newlands, Five Years After my Test Debut': Jasprit Bumrah Expresses Gratitude, Suryakumar Yadav Makes Blockbuster Prediction

It’s been five years since Jasprit Bumrah made his Test debut at Cape Town and gave an early indication of what was to come. And he’s back to the place where it all started for him in red-ball cricket for India.

Bumrah played the first Test of his career in Cape Town against South Africa, taking four wickets during the tour of 2018. He would end the three-match series with an impressive haul of 14 wickets.

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From Wednesday, he will lead India’s pace attack in the 2nd Test against South Africa as the tourists hope to make a comeback and return home by drawing level in the two-match series.

“Back at Newlands, 5 years after my Test debut here. A lot of memories, a lot of gratitude,” Bumrah wrote on Instagram on the match eve sharing a clip of his nets session ahead of the contest.

A post shared by jasprit bumrah (@jaspritb1)

His India teammate Suryakumar Yadav predicted Bumrah to take a five-wicket haul in the 2nd Test.

“Panjaaaaaa hai idhar pakkaaaa (five-for is certain here),” posted Surya in the comments section of the post.

Since his Test bow in January 2018, Bumrah has become one of the leading fast bowlers in the world having played 31 matches and taken 132 wickets at an average of 21.84. He has eight five-wicket hauls to his name and a Test hat-trick as well.

Bumrah was India’s top bowler in the first Test of the ongoing series against South Africa troubling their batters consistently even as Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna failed to adjust to the conditions.

Bumrah spent nearly a year recovering from injuries and underwent back surgery earlier this year after making a couple of attempts at return to competitive cricket.

The injuries and medical procedure meant Bumrah missed several major tournaments before finally returning for the Ireland T20Is in August where he also captained India.

India will be eyeing recovery from the thrashing they received at the hands of South Africa who stormed to an innings and 32-run win well inside three days to take 1-0 lead.