Without a shadow of a doubt, the premier pacer of the Indian team, Jasprit Bumrah, is going to be the strongest weapon for Rohit Sharma in the upcoming five-match Test series in Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. When the Blue Brigade claimed their first red-ball series down under in 2018/19, the pacer made a huge contribution.
Jasprit Bumrah was the leading wicket-taker of the series with 21 wickets in eight innings at an average of 17 and a strike rate of nearly seven and a half overs at the best bowling figure of 6/33 in an innings. Overall, he has cracked 32 scalps in 14 innings down under at an average of under 22 and a strike rate of 51.53.
Whatever the situation of the game is, the Gujarat-born will always put his hand up to rescue India with the ball in crunch moments of the game. Since the start of the home summer for the Indian team, the speculation was of the bowler, getting rested for the lion’s share for the game to remain fresh for Australia.
Dinesh Karthik suggests management to rest Jasprit Bumrah for 3rd Test vs New Zealand
In the ongoing year, the pacer has been part of nine Test matches where he has picked up 41 wickets at an average of below 17 and a strike rate of only 31.56 with the help of two five-wicket hauls at a best bowling figure of 6/45 in an innings. Since the end of the T20 World Cup, he was given a break for the two white-ball trips to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
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Against Bangladesh, Jasprit Bumrah played the first Test in Chennai and showed his quality with five wickets in the game where he troubled the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side with his incredible seam and swing. The game ended in four days, which allowed the management to keep the bowler in the eleven for the second encounter in Kanpur, where he grabbed six more wickets.
The first of the three Tests in Bengaluru was played under overcast conditions, and given the home side needed to earn three victories to confirm their qualification in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final, the veteran pacer was included in the first 11 where he bagged three wickets.
The result didn’t go India’s way, and that drove the management to push Jasprit Bumrah for the second Test in Pune, where he went wicketless on a spin-friendly track, ending with match figures of 0/57 in his 14 overs. The Rohit Sharma-led side was blown away for a second consecutive defeat to lose their 12-year proud record of not losing a home Test series.
When the head coach of the Indian side, Gautam Gambhir, was asked to offer his view on the workload management of the pacers, he expressed that they would make the final decision depending on the results of the second Test. Now the question stands if Jasprit Bumrah should be allowed a break, keeping in mind the opening Test in Australia, which starts three weeks later.
“Jasprit Bumrah needs a rest without a doubt. That is happening, and you will see Mohammed Siraj come in. I can’t think of any other change unless someone has a niggle. I don’t see any reason why the batters who played this game or the bowlers should not get an opportunity.” The former Indian wicket-keeper, Dinesh Karthik, advised during an interaction on Cricbuzz.
The final game of the three-match series will begin on November 01 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, as India aims to end the series on a high.