'You don’t rest your number one bowler in the name of workload management' - Sunil Gavaskar on Jasprit Bumrah

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar slammed the Indian team management for resting Jasprit Bumrah for the ongoing highly-anticipated second Test of the four-match series against England at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. In order to manage the workload of the Indian speed merchant and give him some rest before the pink-ball Test at Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, India replaced Bumrah with Mohammed Siraj in the second game.

India had lost the first Test against England at the same venue by a massive 227 runs. Going into the second game, the home team made two changes into their squad apart from Bumrah as they replaced Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar, both the spinners had a torrid run with the ball, with Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel respectively.

Opining on the exclusion of Bumrah, Sunil Gavaskar lambasted the team management saying that one doesn’t rest their number one bowler in the name of workload management. The veteran believes that Bumrah had enough time to recover after the second cap as there is a healthy gap of seven days between the second and third Test. Gavaskar was baffled by the decision of the hosts as this is a crucial game for India to keep their hopes alive in the Test series.

Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at Indian team management

“You don’t rest your number one bowler in the name of workload management. Jasprit Bumrah is India’s number one bowler with the new ball, while Ravichandran Ashwin is the number one spinner. When you have lost the opening game of such a crucial series, you can’t rest your number one pacer. I am baffled by Bumrah’s snub, as there is a seven-day recovery time after the second Test match,” Sunil Gavaskar said while speaking on Star Sports.

Jasprit Bumrah had performed exceptionally well in the first Test against England. On the pitch that favoured the batsmen more in the first innings and didn’t provide any assistance to the bowlers, the 27-year-old picked three priced wickets of Dominic Sibley, Daniel Lawrence and Dom Bess.

In the third innings, he again weaved his magic and rattled the opposition with his pace and accuracy. The innings saw Bumrah picking an important wicket of in-form opposition skipper Joe Root, who was playing at 40 runs after facing just 32 deliveries.