Jasprit Bumrah vs Mitchell Starc in WTC 2023-25: Key stats
What's the story
Mitchell Starc, Australia's ace pacer, finished as the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the 2023-25 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
He picked up a total of 77 wickets from 19 matches. Meanwhile, Indian ace Jasprit Bumrah also finished this cycle with 77 wickets.
Here we compare Starc and Bumrah's stats in the 2023-25 WTC cycle.
Match details
Starc's performance in the WTC final
Though Australia lost to South Africa in the WTC final, Starc was Australia's standout bowler in the fourth innings.
He took two wickets for 41 runs in South Africa's first innings and three for 66 runs in their second, as per ESPNcricinfo.
This performance helped him equal Bumrah's tally. Australian captain Pat Cummins (80 wickets) is the only bowler with more wickets than the duo in this cycle.
Stats
Bumrah way ahead in terms of average
Bumrah was unstoppable in this cycle as he claimed a record 77 wickets in just 28 innings. Meanwhile, Starc bowled in 37 innings.
The former's average of 15.09 was the lowest among all bowlers with 50-plus wickets in the cycle.
The Australian speedster clocked an average of 26.89.
Notably, Bumrah played the majority of his games in India, where tracks are not usually known to favor pacers.
At the same time, the Australian tracks are tailor-made for fast bowling.
SR
Bumrah has best strike rate as well
Bumrah's strike rate of 30.67 was also the best among bowlers with 50-plus wickets in the cycle.
Starc (41.92) is again way behind in this regard. Meanwhile, Bumrah also clocked the joint-most four-plus wicket hauls (10).
He shares the top spot with Cummins. Starc touched this milestone on six occasions.
While Bumrah returned with five five-wicket hauls, the Australian recorded just a couple of fifers.
Conditions
Who was better across conditions?
33 of Bumrah's wickets in this cycle came in Asia at a stunning average of 17.84. No other pacer with at least 10 wickets in Asia in this cycle averaged under 20.
Meanwhile, Starc claimed six wickets at 14.33 in the continent.
Starc's remaining 71 wickets came in SENA nations (South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia) at 27.95.
Bumrah's average comes down to 13.02 in SENA (44 wickets).
BGT
Their numbers in BGT
The 2023-25 cycle witnessed a solitary India-Australia Test series, which took place Down Under.
Although India lost the series to Australia 1-3, Bumrah's phenomenal performance was hard to miss.
He ended up as the highest wicket-taker with a stunning 32 wickets from five matches at an average of 13.06.
Starc managed 18 wickets as his average (28.67) was over double in Bumrah's comparison.
Hence, Bumrah comfortably beats Starc across all arenas in the recently concluded cycle.