Bumrah among greatest ever but rare tactics wear him down

In the second over after tea on Sunday, just as the MCG was regaining its breath after India's electrifying earlier fightback, Pat Cummins confidently punched Ravindra Jadeja to long-off.

Australia were six wickets down, their lead was yet to pass 250 and every run was important. Yet Cummins stayed put and so did his partner Marnus Labuschagne, the pair electing not to take an easy single.

Labuschagne and Cummins were treading water with a shark encircling them, and his name was Jasprit Bumrah.

So remarkably irresistible has this predator become that the tactical call to shield Cummins, Australia's No.8 whose 90 runs for the Test marked a personal best, and who has more runs for the series than Usman Khawaja and twice as many as Mitch Marsh, was perfectly sensible. Coming into this match, Cummins averaged 6.73 against Bumrah and had been dismissed by him eight times in Tests.

The ploy illustrated, just as Sam Konstas' first-day ramp-fuelled offensive did, the extent to which conventional wisdom has been discarded to counter a bowler who has mounted a fresh claim to be considered the greatest in Test history.

"Our conversation when Pat came out, I said to Sean Abbott, our 12th man, that 'I think I should just face Bumrah here'," Labuschagne told reporters.

"I'd been batting for about 90 balls and I had fair feel lining him up. I mean he was hot – he got three wickets in two overs – so I just said to Pat when he came out, 'I'll just take Bumrah and we can run on the other guys'.

"But let's just make sure that I'm at the non-striker's end at the end of each over if Bumrah bowls so that we can face as many overs as we can.

"And we stuck to that process. Then we tried to make sure that at the end of each over that we don't get stuck and they stop bowling Bumrah for a bit and try to catch us out – and they did once.

"Pat faced one ball in our partnership and somehow scooted it through gully (for a single) and we were back (to their planned positions).

"A lot's got to go to Pat and the team for the process of how we want to deal with it – we talked about it at the start of the series and it's good for us to see the rewards coming now."

Labuschagne and Cummins put on 57 for the seventh wicket and Cummins only faced Bumrah once in his first 62 balls. When he, and the rest of the lower order were exposed to him, the ball was older and Bumrah was becoming increasingly tired. The hosts have since added 80 runs after Labuschagne was dismissed.

Australia have not been wholly ripped apart. But India's shark has bitten a fair chunk out of them and it remains to be seen whether they have done enough to recover in this Test.

Bumrah's morning spell had been hailed as the best in the series. It turned out not even to be the best of the day.

He returned after lunch to dismiss Australia's numbers five, six and seven (the men nominated by Cummins as being expected to carry a bulk of Australia's run-scoring load) in the space of 11 balls.

In the process, he took his 200th wicket in his 44th Test. In terms of balls bowled, only three men have reached the milestone quicker. But where he separates himself historically is the rate at which his wickets have come.

Before today, no bowler with at least 200 wickets held a bowling average under 20. As it stands, Bumrah's 202 wickets have cost him 19.51 apiece.

Only Kagiso Rabada (39.4) and Dale Steyn (42.3) have better strike-rates than Bumrah's 42.4 among the 200-wicket club members.

By the end of India's tour, there could be a case that Bumrah has had the best ever Test series by a visiting bowler to Australia. His 29 wickets this summer have come at 13.24, a mark trumped only by Richard Hadlee's 33 victims claimed at 12.15 in 1985-86.

But as they eye a memorable final-day win to take a 2-1 series lead in Melbourne, Australia have two small silver linings to suggest their battle with Bumrah is starting to turn.

The first was Konstas' first-innings assault on him, which continues to elicit wonder from Australia's senior players – even after Bumrah clean ripped the teenager in Australia's second dig and appeared to mock his earlier revving up of the MCG crowd.

A Konstas reverse-ramp off a Labuschagne throw-down in the nets a few days before his debut was one early sign the 19-year-old was set to challenge Test cricket's No.1 bowler in a novel way.

"I'm pretty sure the young guy got under his skin a bit," Labuschagne said of Konstas' breathtaking first-innings 60 off 65.

"I certainly get angry when I 'wang' (throw one) and I get reverse lapped, let alone bowl it. So I'd say that had a bit of fair bit to do with it.

"Sam's a very confident young player and I love that about him. He loved getting in the contest. He'll love that Bumrah's revved it up and I'm sure he'll be ready to go for the next innings."

The other aspect Australia have taken heart from is having at least slowed the rate in which Bumrah has taken his wickets in this fourth Test.

They have forced opposition captain Rohit Sharma to turn to him for repeated spells that have seen his overall overs tally in Melbourne tip past the 50-mark for only the third time in his career. His eight wickets in this Test have come at a rate of one every 40 balls, close to double his strike-rate in the Perth and Brisbane Tests.

The 52.4 overs he has bowled here are the second most he has even sent down in a Test. His final one on day four saw him deliver two no-balls in three deliveries, the second costing India the wicket of Nathan Lyon that would have ended Australia's innings.

"Jasprit Bumrah's bowling every game has been very good," said Labuschagne. "He's relentless. He just bowls that relentless length, he attacks the stumps, he has that perpendicular angle with his action. He's tough to navigate.

"Obviously it is a battle when you start your innings. It is difficult to start. Finding a way to navigate that and navigate through his spells is important.

"It's something that we've clearly gotten better at as the series has gone on. He's been very good this series."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

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, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), 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