The game looked all but over, when Joe Root and Harry Brook were going along merrily during their 195-run fourth wicket partnership at The Oval. Akash Deep was hampered by a niggle and Prasidh Krishna, as usual, was irritatingly inconsistent. Mohammed Siraj was India's only serious bowling option, but the fast bowler had bowled himself into the ground.
Nobody thought Prasidh would channel his inner Sylvester Clarke, one of Surrey’s biggest fast-bowling legends, in the final session on Day 4 of the final Test. And until Brook played one overambitious shot too many, it never looked like India would be coming back to eventually pull off a heist.
Siraj bowled 185.3 overs across five Tests. His final delivery of the series that yorked Gus Atkinson was bowled at 143 kph. It was a superhuman effort. But Siraj had to strain every sinew because he didn't have Jasprit Bumrah’s support at the other end. The latter opted out of the series decider despite being “fit”, as confirmed by Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, in the lead-up to the game.
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Before the start of the series, it was decided that Bumrah wouldn't be playing more than three Tests, as he needed to manage his workload. Even Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar never went to a series with such a precondition.
“Haven’t decided which two matches Bumrah will play but he will play a total of three. We need to manage his workload. The scoreline doesn’t change that… He will play three Tests only,” Gambhir had said after the defeat in the first Test at Headingley.
Accordingly, the 31-year-old played just two more Tests, at Lord's and then at Old Trafford. At Edgbaston, he didn't turn up even though there was a seven-day gap between the first Test and the second. At Old Trafford, even after a week's rest, he looked jaded. As per a stat put out by the host broadcaster, less than one per cent of Bumrah’s deliveries were over 140 kph in the fourth Test. For the first time in his career, the great fast bowler conceded more than 100 runs in an innings.
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At The Oval, when Brook was taking the Indian attack to the cleaners, Bumrah was not even with the team. He was released from the squad after the first day of the final Test.
Yes, Bumrah is a national treasure, and given his injury record, his workload needs to be managed. “It’s quite a complex issue around Bumrah,” Ryan ten Doeschate, India's assistant coach, told reporters after the first day’s play at The Oval. “We obviously want to wheel him in, but we also want to respect where his body is at, and on the basis of that, we just felt that it wasn’t worth including him in the squad.”
The BCCI needs to figure out something as regards managing Bumrah’s workload, in conjunction with the bowler and the team management. A player being allowed to pick and choose is disrespectful to his teammates, and this is a team sport. Going ahead, it has to be either full series or none. No player is indispensable. India winning two Tests against England without Bumrah attested that.
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