While Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah only played in three Test matches in the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy due to workload management by the Indian team management, there has been some criticism about Bumrah’s availability coming form former cricketers including Sanjay Manjrekar. With Bumrah suffering a injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the Indian team management had bene managing his workload management and former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has defended the decision terming Bumrah as a ‘Kohinoor diamond’.
“There is no bowler like Bumrah. Don’t push him forcibly towards early retirement because he is 24-carat pure gold. He is the Kohinoor diamond. The longer he plays, the better it is. I don’t think he will play too much Test cricket, but for however long he plays, I would say hold onto it. I will be honest, I don’t think he will play all the Test matches. He is going to pick and choose. Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s not a moral or ethical debate, is what I think. If you have a player of that level available, play him whenever he can,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Post the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Bumrah had missed the Champions Trophy but made a return in IPL playing for Mumbai Indians. The 31-year-old pacer, who has taken 32 wickets in five Test matches in Border-Gavaskar Trophy, had a mediocre IPL where he claimed 18 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 17.55. In the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Bumrah played in three Tests including the opening Test at Leeds followed by the third Test at Lord’s and the fourth Test at Manchester. The Indian pacer finished with 14 wickets in the series with an average of 26.00. Bumrah’s fellow pacer Mohammed Siraj played in all the five Tests in the 2-2 drawn series and picked up a total of 23 wickets at an average of 32.43, including a nine-wicket haul in the fifth and final Test at The Oval. Chopra added that India can adjust the bowling attack very easily when Bumrah is available and the situation would have been different had Bumrah been a batsman.
“Jasprit Bumrah, as a bowler, you can adjust the bowling combination very easily. It doesn’t make a difference. If Bumrah had been a batter, a No. 4 or an opener, and had said that he would play two matches and won’t play after that, then it’s a problem. Bowlers need to be rotated in any case in a series of three or four Tests,” said Chopra.
Bumrah available for Asia Cup
Earlier last week, Bumrah had confirmed about his availability to the Indian selectors for the upcoming Asia Cup with the Indian team to be announced Tuesday this week. Former Indian cricketer Manjrekar had criticised Bumrah for choosing to play in three Tests out of the five Tests in England. “Great series for fans, yes great result for Indian cricket lovers yes, great advertisement for Test cricket yes, but what about quality? Was the cricket of the highest quality? No, it wasn’t. For starters, sorry to burst the bubble, it has to be one of the weakest bowling attacks from both sides that I have seen in a series featuring two main stream teams. The one bowler with great skills and ability had a bizarre approach to playing in this series even before it began, so bowling greatness or excellence was seen very sporadically over 175 hours of Test cricket,” Manjrekar had written in his column for Hindustan Times.
