Brilliant Bumrah in elite company after latest lone-hand effort

Jasprit Bumrah's status as one of the best fast bowlers ever seen on these shores was franked on Monday, but India are becoming increasingly desperate for some back-up.

With his dismissal of Mitchell Starc between day three's rain squalls, Bumrah became the second Indian after Kapil Dev to take 50 Test wickets in Australia. Since the start of the 20th century, no bowler has a better bowling average Down Under than Bumrah's mark of 17.82 (minimum 20 wickets).

It leaves him in glittering company as, statistically, the best visiting bowler to Australia in more than 100 years, trumping the likes of Richard Hadlee (whose 77 scalps came at a marginally higher rate of 17.83 runs per wicket), Curtly Ambrose (78 wickets at 19.79 in Australia) and Michael Holding (63 at 24.22).

The 31-year-old appears certain to go past Dev's mark of 51 wickets in Australia, and is also well on the way to breaking the record for the most wickets taken in a Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

From two-and-a-half Tests, he has 18 victims. It puts him over halfway to topping Harbhajan Singh's mark of 32 wickets in the famous three-Test series in India in 2001.

Speaking to News Corp, ex-Test captain Allan Border said he rated Bumrah as highly as Hadlee and Marshall.

"I can't properly compare him to Marshall because I never faced Bumrah but just watching him there is not much (between them)," said Border. "Bumrah is remarkable. He rarely bowls a spell without taking a wicket. 

"He is different. Because of his action, he lets the ball go later. And he smiles all the time. He can beat a batsman three times in a row and smile each time. I have never seen anyone like him."

Yet India's growing reliance on Test cricket's undisputed No.1 bowler, who has taken close to half his team's wickets in this series so far, is fast becoming a headache. 

The gap was even more pronounced in the third Test, with Bumrah relied on to dismiss five of Australia's top six, eventually finishing with 6-76 from 28 overs. 

India's other four bowlers went at almost four runs an over and collectively returned 4-352, two of those wickets being tail-enders.

With 11 wickets at 25.00, Mohammed Siraj has been the next-best Indian bowler, but has been hobbled by a leg injury that forced him from the field during Australia's first innings at the Gabba. 

After a strong back-up effort to Bumrah in India's big win in Perth, Siraj has been expensive in the ensuing two Tests and he has not dismissed a top-order batter since his send-off of Travis Head in Adelaide. India's third quick for the first two Tests, Harshit Rana, has been discarded in Brisbane.

Speaking on SEN about India's bowlers on Sunday, their former coach Ravi Shastri said: "They were giving away runs on both sides. Bumrah has done most things right, but I think when you look at the others you think, 'can they execute?' 

"They have to think how to bowl on one side of the wicket."

One silver lining for the visitors were the efforts of Akash Deep, who earned plaudits from Smith in the skiddy quick's first Test outside India. He finished Australia's first innings as his side's most economical bowler after Bumrah.

"Bumrah's the number one bowler in the world and of course you need someone to back him up and help in that partnership," India's bowling coach Morne Morkel said after Travis Head and Steve Smith tonned up on day two at the Gabba.

"But I honestly can't fault the efforts of the other seamers today. Akash asked good questions with the new ball upfront, asked good questions with the older ball and on another day could easily have picked up three wickets. 

"That's the nature of this game; Test cricket is tough, you can have tough days like this. I can only say that yes the other bowlers didn't get it right at times but in terms of effort you can't fault that."

The prospect of Mohammed Shami, who the Australians rate highly, bailing India out for the Boxing Day or New Year's Tests remain unclear. 

Rohit Sharma played up the possibility of a mid-series call-up last week but in the same breath pointed out the injury-plagued right-armer continues to experience swelling in his knee.

Shami has 229 Test wickets to his name but has not played international cricket in more than a year and underwent ankle surgery earlier this year. He made his first-class comeback last month but has since been consigned to white-ball cricket.

In Brisbane, India conceded they have been left wanting once the shine has gone off the ball. Morkel identified the 30 overs before the second new ball becomes available as a period of play they need to bowl better in.

"I think for us with the ball, from overs 50-80 – even in that last game (in Adelaide) – at the moment is where we fall short, leaking a little bit," said the former South Africa speedster.

"It's definitely an area we need to focus on, deeper in the innings in terms of game plans. Yes, we have the game plans but are we executing those game plans with the softer ball from both ends? That's something we need to discuss and get better at."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal