Canberra: The television crews were at it right after Day 1 of the Perth Test had ended. As the people poured in, one question was put to them: what did you make of Jasprit Bumrah? Many of them had seen Bumrah bowling before on their television set but to see him in the flesh was something else. The line, the length, the changes of pace and the manner in which he got inside the heads of Aussies. The Bumrah Test experience (and it is different from ODIs and T20s) is something that needs to be seen to be believed.

And in most cases, the rather predictable answers were delivered with a twinkle in the eyes: ‘Bumrah is great’, ‘I am an Aussie and it breaks my heart but the man is magic’, ‘Just too good’, ‘The no.1 bowler in the world’.

The last of those statements seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. There are, of course, mountains still to be climbed but Bumrah has been a huge reason for India’s upward move in Test cricket. But the ICC’s official rankings don’t always recognise greatness — at least not the way it should be.

On Nov 27, the ICC sent out an email titled ‘Bumrah wrests back top spot in ICC Men’s Test Bowling Rankings’. But really, who were we kidding? Here’s a bowler who virtually changes matches on a whim, who has found regular success throughout the world — in Australia, South Africa, India, against England, and he had just managed to ‘wrest back’ the no.1 rankings.

According to the ICC statement, “Bumrah’s hauls of five for 30 and three for 42 have helped him overtake Josh Hazlewood and Kagiso Rabada and reach a career-best 883 rating points, the highest rating points tally ever by an India seam bowler.”

This is also the third time that Bumrah has been top of the rankings this year. He was top ranked for two one-month stretches each starting in February and October.

This, of course, was only Test cricket. It gets more absurd as you look at the ODI and T20 rankings. Rashid Khan is ranked No.1 in ODIs and that is fine because he has his own way but Shaheen Afridi and Keshav Maharaj are ranked No.2 and 3 respectively. Are they really better than Bumrah? Is Bernard Scholtz, ranked no.5, better too? Bumrah comes it at no.7.

In T20I rankings, Bumrah is ranked 34th in the world. But one look at him during the IPL or when he does actually play for India and you just know he is the best. No one else comes close.

Look at the matches, look at the scores, look at the other bowlers and that is when you realise that the man is on a different level. On the same pitch, he often manages to produce something special. The Aussies are desperately looking for way to counter him as are most batters around the world but no one quite gets him… yet.

If you don’t know anything about cricket, then you might come to appreciate the ICC World Rankings. But despite their well-meaning intentions, this just isn’t working.

During the third day of the Perth Test, albeit briefly, Bumrah became the only bowler after the great Sydney Barnes to have an average under 20 despite having taken more than 150 wickets. By the end of the Test, it climbed back 20.06 but he’s almost there.

Barnes, who played between 1901 and 1914, took 189 wickets in Test cricket with an average of 16.43. But that was the era of uncovered pitches and cricket was very much a developing sport then. In many ways, Barnes was an innovator because he was the first person to swing, seam and spin the ball. One man, doing all three and bowling the carrom ball too. It was unheard of back then.

But Bumrah, in the manner that he lords over different formats, is no different. He is an innovator in the modern sense. If one looks at the era after covered pitches became commonplace, fast bowler Malcolm Marshall with 376 wickets at an average of 20.94 is closest in terms of average. The West Indian, of course, has a huge lead in terms of wickets and that will be the challenge for Bumrah now. Can he keep it going for that long?

Joel Garner, 259 wickets at 20.97, was brilliant too as was Curtly Ambrose (405 wickets at 20.99), but this is what Bumrah should honestly be looking at.

Among the current bowlers, Kagiso Rabada (313 wickets at 21.49) and Pat Cummins (272 wickets at 22.85) run Bumrah close and that is what the rankings should at some point come to reflect.

World cricket is in the presence of greatness and it is perhaps time that the ICC finds a better way of acknowledging that. Bumrah, either which way, doesn’t care. Neither do the people. They already have their no.1.

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