But after dismissing the India pacer six times in eight innings, Khawaja admitted he was “just cheating on Bumrah”.
“To be honest, I was just rooting for Bumrah,” Khawaja told ABC Sports after Australia won the BGT in Sydney. “It was extremely difficult work. It was difficult work. People were asking me ‘What’s going on?’ I’m being honest, I’m just getting Bumrah-ed.”
Bumrah finished the series as the leading wicket-taker with 32 wickets at an average of 13.06 and was duly named Player of the Series.
However, he could only bowl nine innings, and did not take the field during Australia’s chase at the SCG after experiencing back spasms during the first innings.
In the absence of Bumrah, Australia won with six wickets to spare, and Khawaja admitted that Australia felt more confident on the spicy pitch when they saw that Bumrah was not on the field.
“You never want to see anybody get injured and it’s a shame that he got injured, but thank God for us. Because it would have been a nightmare to face him on that wicket today,” Khawaja said.
“And you could see what a big part of their team he was. And everybody felt that. As soon as we didn’t see Bumrah out there, we realized that we’ve really got a chance here.”
Khawaja said that Bumrah is “the toughest bowler I have faced so far” and praised the fast bowler’s improvement since his first tour of Australia in 2018–19.
“He was always good, he was a very good bowler (in 2018). But this year he is something different,” Khawaja said. “It looked like he had just raised his tail.
“The wickets have definitely helped him, but he is six years more mature, he is a better bowler, he understands his skills. He understands who he is bowling to and he has different options for everyone. There are different plans.”
“I always felt like no matter how good a bowler was, they would always give me something to score runs at. I never felt like I could score runs against him. It felt very difficult. I Never found anyone so tough. Score and get off the strike because Bumrah and you always feel like he’s got a wicket up his sleeve.”
