Bumrah or Rabada: Who is the better Test bowler?

Jasprit Bumrah vs Kagiso Rabada: Who is the best Test bowler in the world today? Comparing two modern Test bowling greats.

Jasprit Bumrah is indispensable to India, and so is Kagiso Rabada to South Africa. They lead the bowling unit on both home and away Test series, and their success is crucial to their team’s chances. But who is a better Test bowler between the two? Here’s a comparative analysis of Bumrah and Rabada’s Test performance. 

Home and away records
Although Jasprit Bumrah has played majority of the Tests away and neutral with a bowling average of 20.05, he is even better at home when the conditions are tailor made for spin bowling. He averages 17.19 at home. Who can forget Bumrah’s magical spell of 6/45 against England at Visakhapatnam in 2024 on a pitch that had nothing much for pacers. But it was Bumrah’s magic that saw England’s batting collapse and hand India a win to level the series. 

In comparison, Rabada has a better bowling average at home (20.08) than away and neutral (24.13). Rabada has bowled a few magical spells at home, but it cannot be denied that conditions in South Africa are much better suited to pace bowling, and hence, Rabada’s stats at home does not inspire that awe compared to Bumrah’s show in India.

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Here’s how the two fare at home and away:

How the two fare across an innings
A look into Bumrah and Rabada’s performance in various phases of a Test innings show interesting facts.

Bumrah is more effective with older ball
Contrary to belief that Jasprit Bumrah would be more dangerous with the new ball, it is the old ball using which Bumrah creates his magic. As the ball goes old, his bowling average and strike rate drops, meaning he concedes lesser runs and takes lesser balls to pick up wickets. He averages 19.90 and 16.80 in overs 11 to 50, and 51 and beyond, respectively, compared to 23.90 between overs 1 to 10. Also, his economy remains constantly below 3 during all these three phases. His strike rate drops to 34.6 in the later phases from 53.9 in the initial part of the innings.

This could imply that Bumrah is able to extract reverse swing with the old ball, making batters’ stay difficult in the middle and later overs.

Similarly, Rabada too takes lesser balls to strike as the ball goes older. However, his economy rises from 2.90 in overs 1 to 10 to 3.86 in overs 51 and beyond. It implies that Rabada loses his line and length in a bid to bounce off the middle-order batters or the lower-order players, but end up conceding a few runs too many. However, his average – runs conceded per wicket taken – remains constant in the early 20s throughout the three phases. It means that even though Rabada is leaking runs with the old ball, he is taking enough wickets to keep the average in check. 

Read More: Who will lead India’s bowling attack after Jasprit Bumrah leaves the scene

Here’s Rabada-Bumrah’s performance in different phases of a Test innings:

Five-wicket hauls
A look at the duo’s record of five-wicket hauls on both home and away show interesting facts.

Bumrah has taken 13 five-wicket hauls in 45 tests – an average of one such performance in every 3.46 Tests. Rabada has taken 17 five wicket hauls in 71 Tests – an average of one such performance in every 4.17 Tests. 

But it is Bumrah’s away and neutral five-wicket hauls that make him stand out. Bumrah has taken 11 five-wicket hauls in 33 Tests – an average of one five-wicket haul in every third Test at away and neutral grounds. But Rabada has taken only seven five-wicket hauls in 34 away and neutral Tests – an average of one five-wicket haul in every 4.85 Tests. It is almost double the Tests taken by Bumrah for each five-wicket haul away and neutral grounds. However, Rabada steals the show at home – bagging 10 five-wicket hauls compared to only 2 by Bumrah. 

Here’s the two bowler’s performance in terms of five-wicket hauls in both home and away and neutral grounds.

So, who is a better Test bowler between the two?
Both Bumrah and Rabada have done reasonably well with new ball, old ball or in different phases of an innings. But Bumrah has taken out conditions out of the picture to earn five-wicket hauls at home through his variations, while he masters in taking five-wicket hauls away. Rabada has some work to do in terms of five-wicket hauls on away soil, while he aces his performance on home conditions.

Both the howlers are integral to their team’s success, but Bumrah has a bigger responsibility to manage in the absence of a good bowling partner. Rabada and his current and former pace bowling partners have formed good partnerships. Hence, Bumrah’s show stands out although Rabada is equally good in his place.

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