Australia's Nathan McSweeney plays a shot during the day three of the second cricket test match between Australia and India at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/James Elsby)Australian batter Nathan McSweeney recently opened up about facing Jasprit Bumrah in the Border Gavaskar Trophy, saying that it was “chaos” facing the Indian bowler. He also said that before facing Bumrah, he didn’t think it would be a big deal but found out the hard way what the Indian pacer brings to the table.
“Yeah, tough work is probably an understatement. He’s an incredible bowler. I was probably naïve 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.
“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.
McSweeney, originally a middle-order batsman, was included in the Test squad after Australia were unable to zero-in on a reliable partner to Usman Khawaja. In the six inning he batted, McSweeney had scores of: 10,0, 39, 10*, 9 & 4 as Bumrah repeatedly tested Australia’s batting line-up.
The Australian had a tough time against Bumrah in the series scoring just 72 runs in 3 matches and getting sent back by the Indian pacer 4 times out of 5. He would then be dropped from the Australian side for the last 2 Test matches.
Meanwhile, Bumrah was the Player of the Series against Australia in the BGT, bagging 32 wickets across five Tests. However, he sustained a back injury in the series and could not bowl in the second innings of the 5th and final test.
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