Australia opener Nathan McSweeney recently came forward and talked about the challenges that he faced while taking on Jasprit Bumrah when India toured Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Out of the five Tests, Australia registered wins in four matches and only lost the opening Test in Perth.
However, despite getting dominated down under, it was India’s Jasprit Bumrah who put in a warrior-like performance, often keeping the hosts at bay through exceptional spells. Speaking about how it feels to take on Bumrah, McSweeney opened up about how Bumrah was a constant threat to Australia due to his consistent line and length.
“Yeah, tough work is probably an understatement. He’s an incredible bowler. I was probably naive going into it, never faced him before and (thinking) he’ll be fine. But he’s an incredible bowler that has a great skill but just relentless ability to pitch the ball in the area where you don’t want as a batter,” McSweeney said at the Willow Talk Podcast.
“So, it was a very tough challenge but also gave me a hope that no one kind of had great success against him and everyone was trying to tackle him at the same time and no one was playing him with ease, which gave me a little bit of confidence,” he added.
Speaking of Bumrah, the star pacer injured himself during the latter stages of the BGT 2024-25 and went on to miss the Champions Trophy 2025 entirely, a tournament that India dominated throughout and won. Furthermore, recent reports have also suggested that Bumrah could miss the early stages of the IPL as well. It is interesting to note that Bumrah is the main man for Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2025, and if the star pacer misses some matches at the start, it could pose a serious threat to MI’s campaign.