Former South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander felt India should start worrying about the bigger picture regarding Jasprit Bumrah.
Amid the continued concern over whether fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will make a return for the Champions Trophy, India have been handed a fresh headache over his workload management. Bumrah had suffered a back injury during the Sydney Test against Australia last month, which left his participation in the impending ICC tournament in a precarious spot. But former South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander felt India should start worrying about the bigger picture regarding Bumrah.
There is still uncertainty over Jasprit Bumrah’s return date(Getty)
The 31-year-old was asked to reduce his workload after the Border-Gavaskar Test series, where he incurred back spasms during the final Test and hence had to miss out on the last two days of the match. He later missed the T20I series against England at home, did not feature in Ranji Trophy amid a bandwagon of India Test regulars making a comeback to domestic cricket following a fresh BCCI mandate, and on Tuesday, was silently snubbed for the ODI series at home against Jos Buttler’s men.
Amid no official information on Bumrah’s recovery, the pacer is slated to undergo a medical assessment at the NCA in Bengaluru before the selectors take a call on his Champions Trophy participation. Philander served India a reminder of their vast calendar year and the workload pressure it puts on a bowler like Bumrah.
“I think he (Bumrah) has really set the standard high. His skill set, the ability to shift his pace up and down, I think he has just been wonderful for the game. Overall, if you look at the amount of games that India plays, obviously over the calendar year, that load is quite massive,” Philander said in a select media interaction on the sidelines of SA20.
“I think it’s more about how the Indian management manage him. I would say, you look at a guy like Jasprit Bumrah, and you want him to be playing all the key series, all the key tournaments. So they have to manage his workload in between tournaments,” said the cricketer-turned-commentator.
BCCI braced for ‘tough chat’ with Bumrah
In urging India to avoid the temptation of involving Bumrah in every series, Philander admitted it would be a ‘tough chat’ to have with the bowler. He also asked the most crucial question on how head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar will manage Bumrah’s workload during the IPL season, where Mumbai Indians would want him to play all the matches after having retained the bowler for INR 18 crore.
“With IPL coming up, you want a player like him to be available for most games but how do you manage him throughout the IPL season? So I would say you perhaps want to look at playing him in all the main features and give other bowlers an opportunity in less important matches,” said Philander, who has taken 224 wickets in 64 Tests for South Africa.
“But again, it’s such a tough chat to have, because as a bowler, you want to go out there, you know, there’s records to be broken, so you want to keep playing,” he said.
Speaking about bowler’s workload in general, Philander said it will be a massive talking point ahead of the Champions Trophy.
“I think also from a bowling load management point of view fitness trainers and physios will have to guide the conversation in terms of what’s allowed for a particular player.
“With leagues popping up everywhere and you only have X amount of balls in your body, and you want to make sure that you deliver those balls at the right time, at the right competition. If you look at Champions Trophy coming up, I think that will be a massive talking point as well,” he said
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