Team India has a busy schedule in the next few months, like it is always the case with the most followed cricket team in the world. Look at the entire year, the team won the Champions Trophy in March, followed by two months of non-stop IPL, then two months of England Tests, now the Asia Cup, followed by the IND vs WI Tests, IND vs AUS ODIs, and then the IND vs SA Test series.
Leave Jasprit Bumrah Alone
The amount of matches these players will play, it is only fair to look at the workload management of certain players, especially the fast bowlers, whose bodies go through a major grind. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah is a national treasure and must be preserved. But then, if he is fit, then there is no reason to not play him.
At least that is the message that has come out of the team camp. There were several questions raised, as to why Bumrah missed two Tests in England, and then even went on to play in the Asia Cup match vs the UAE. But then all this seems rather pointless, given what he brings to the table. Former India opener WV Raman, in an exclusive chat with Insidesport maintained that all this chatter around his workload is futile, and the bowler must be left alone.
No Clue Why Arshdeep Singh in Not Picked
Leaving aside Bumrah, he highlighted how Arshdeep Singh should also be our go-to bowler, and is being left out for no good reason. “Poor guy, Bumrah. Let’s just leave him alone for a while. Too much chatter is happening around him, poor guy,” Raman said. “If I was Arshdeep Singh and I’m not playing in the XI, I’ll be extremely disappointed. The other side of the coin is, if the highest wicket-taker of a format, who can provide the variety by being a left-arm seamer; at least I’m not intelligent enough to understand why it’s happening.”
The veteran, of course was correct in pointing that out. This trend perhaps started in England, where apart from Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, the likes of Shardul Thakur, Prasidh Krishna, and Akash Deep were used. In the 4th Test, where he was pretty certain to mark his debut, he suffered a hand injury. Post that too, in the Asia Cup, he did not play vs UAE, and the two Pakistan matches, but was picked only in the Oman match.
Bumrah Will Play
Coming back to Jasprit Bumrah, it is also to be understood that the team management knows how his body is responding to the work load, and the measures that need to be taken. In the pre-match PC on Tuesday, assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate too made it clear, that the work being put in here by the pacer, would act as practice for the West Indies series.
“We have a Test match starting on Thursday. So, it is actually a good preparation, in terms of workload management. Knowing, if he plays all the games, he’ll bowl 25-26 overs, with the training and the preparation — which is a fairly good number before a Test. I’d say we are going to pick our best team for every game, and he obviously fits into that picture,” he said.
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