Media365
Jasprit Bumrah expressed his gratitude after being honored with the prestigious ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award, emphasizing that his team’s success will always remain his top priority. He described India’s T20 World Cup victory as his most treasured moment of 2024.
The 31-year-old fast bowler received the Sir Garfield Sobers Award on Tuesday, following an extraordinary year where he delivered “a masterclass in skill, precision, and relentless consistency” across all formats of the game.
Bumrah’s outstanding performances also earned him the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year title on Monday, along with a place in the Test Team of the Year announced last week.
“I feel really good. As a youngster, I have seen my childhood heroes winning this great award, so yeah, very happy to be at the ‘receiving end’,” Bumrah cheekily told broadcasters.
However, the Indian pace spearhead emphasised that team victories will always be his top priority.
“So winning the T20 World Cup was really special, and the memories that we made after that are going to be close to me forever,” said Bumrah, who played a pivotal role in India’s T20 World Cup campaign in the Americas, picking up 15 wickets at an astonishing average of 8.26 and an economy of just 4.17, leading India to the title.
“So I will always pick us winning the T20 World Cup first.”
Bumrah’s consistent performances across formats also made him the fifth Indian cricketer to receive the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year Award. The previous Indian recipients of this honour are Rahul Dravid (2004), Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Ravichandran Ashwin (2016), and Virat Kohli (2017, 2018).
“It feels really good to get honours from the legends of the game, but I always take things with a pinch of salt,” Bumrah said.
“I’m very happy with the honour, but I don’t let myself get too high. My feet are on the ground, and I’m really happy with the accolades that I get.”
In the Test format, Bumrah concluded 2024 with an impressive 71 wickets in just 13 matches at an average of 14.92, making it the second-best performance by a fast bowler in a calendar year, behind former India captain Kapil Dev’s 100 wickets in 1983. The right-arm pacer was in sublime form during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, where he picked up 32 wickets in five Tests.
Although India fell short of qualifying for the final of the 2023-25 World Test Championship, Bumrah’s contributions were crucial, with 77 wickets significantly boosting India’s points tally.
Reflecting on his most memorable moments, Bumrah highlighted the dismissal of Ollie Pope during the Test series against England as particularly special.
“I’ve been very happy to play a lot of Test cricket this year, and many wickets have been special. But the one that I took against England at Vizag, the Ollie Pope, was really special because that changed the momentum and everything,” he said.
