Sunil Gavaskar slams India's decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has questioned the Indian team management’s decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah for the crucial fourth Test against England. Team India played the penultimate game of the five-match series without their pace spearhead.

Jasprit Bumrah was the only fast bowler from both teams who played in the first three Tests of the series. Mohammed Siraj played the first game before being rested for the second one. He was replaced by Mukesh Kumar for the second game before returning for the third game.

For the fourth Test, the Indian team management decided to rest Jasprit Bumrah and he was replaced by debutant Akash Deep in the playing eleven. And while Akash Deep performed well on his debut and India went on to win the Test by five wickets, Sunil Gavaskar was not at all impressed with the call to rest the star fast-bowler for the crucial game.

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Sunil Gavaskar on Jasprit Bumrah being rested:

Sunil Gavaskar pointed out that Jasprit Bumrah bowled only 23 overs in the third Test before being rested. He further said that there was a gap of nine days between the second and third Tests as he reiterated that bowling 23 overs in a Test ‘is not tiring at all’. He also said that Jasprit Bumrah would have had enough time to recover after the fourth Test since there was a gap of more than a week between the last two Tests.

Despite bowling just 15 overs in the first innings and then eight overs in the second innings of the third Test at Rajkot, Bumrah was rested for Ranchi presumably on the trainer’s recommendation,” Sunil Gavaskar was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

“Don’t forget there was a nine-day break between the second Test and third Test match and then bowling 23 overs in the entire game is not tiring at all, so why was Bumrah rested? After the fourth Test, there was going to be another eight-day break before the final Test match; enough time for supremely fit athletes to recover and be ready to play for the country.

“The fourth Test also was a crucial game as, if England had won that, the final Test would have been the decider. So, whether it was the NCA or Bumrah who took the call, it wasn’t in the Indian team’s immediate interest,” he added.

The BCCI recently announced that Jasprit Bumrah has returned to the team for the fifth and final Test, scheduled to be played on March 7 in Dharamsala.

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