Zaheer Khan Explains Reason Behind Jasprit Bumrah's Failure To Pick Up Wickets

Jasprit Bumrah’s failure to take wickets since his return to international cricket is fast becoming a major concern for Team India. The India pace spearhead missed the home season in the second half of 2019 due to a back injury and returned to action last month during the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

Since then, he has struggled to be among the wickets. In his comeback game which was the T20I against Sri Lanka, he conceded 32 runs and picked up a single wicket. In the next game too, he managed to take just one wicket. The struggled to take wickets continued against Australia too as he picked up just one wicket in the three-match ODI series.

And things have not changed much on the ongoing tour of New Zealand. While the right-arm pacer has been economical with the ball on most of the occasions, he has struggled to get wickets. In the five-match T20I series, he managed to pick up only six wickets. Three of those wickets came in a single game. And in the just-concluded three-match ODI series, he did not pick a single wicket as India suffered a whitewash.

And as Jasprit Bumrah struggles to be among wickets, legendary fast-bowler Zaheer Khan has shared his thoughts on it. Zaheer Khan believes that the reason behind Bumrah not getting wickets is that opposition batsmen are not taking any chances against him. Zaheer Khan advised the pacer to be ‘extra aggressive’ in order to reclaim his mojo.

“When you build a reputation like how Jasprit Bumrah has built now over the years you will have to fight this. This is a phase right now Bumrah is in where teams are saying ‘okay Bumrah even if we get thirty five runs we are happy with that as long as we are not giving him wickets because then we can attack the other bowlers’,” Zaheer Khan told Cricbuzz.

“That is something which Bumrah will have to understand that he has to be extra aggressive in terms of looking to get those wickets because he knows the batsmen are going to be defensive. So, he has to find that way of going for wickets rather than hoping that the batsmen will make a mistake because batsmen are taking a very conservative approach there, making sure that Bumrah’s wicket-taking column is not getting filled.

“It’s a good sign that other batsmen are giving him that respect so it’s Bumrah’s call to now basically make them play. He has to make the play now rather than batsman playing him out,” he added.

India, meanwhile, failed to defend 297 in the third and final ODI as New Zealand completed a comprehensive 3-0 series win. Both the teams will now lock horns in a two-match Test series, starting on February 21.