Australian batter recalls 'challenging' outing against Bumrah in BGT

Australia batter Nathan McSweeney has opened up on his experience facing India’s Jasprit Bumrah in the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

McSweeney, a middle-order batsman, was included in the Australia Test squad and promoted up the order to open the inning with Usman Khawaja after David Warner’s retirement.

However, he found it challenging to get going in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and managed 10,0, 39, 10*, 9 & 4 in his six outings.

The young Australia batter faced tough competition from Jasprit Bumrah, who dismissed him four out of his five innings.

Nathan McSweeney was subsequently dropped for the remaining two matches after managing just 72 runs in the first three games of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

During a recent interview with an Australian media outlet, the right-handed batter said that it was “chaos” facing Jasprit Bumrah.

“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,” he 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,” Nathan McSweeney added.

It is to be noted here that Australia defeated India in the fifth and final game to win the series 3-1 and take home the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after nearly a decade.