The Indian captain Virat Kohli has revealed that Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will be rotated in the limited over series against Australia to manage their workloads.
Both Bumrah and Shami had recently participated in the IPL for Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab respectively.
Bumrah had bowled 60 overs in the Twenty20 league whereas Shami had bowled more than 53 overs. Bumrah had finished with 27 wickets whereas Shami had bagged 20 wickets in 14 matches for KXIP.
With Ishant Sharma ruled out of the Border-Gavaskar trophy, the onus will be on Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami to deliver the goods for the team in the four-match Test series.
Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers on the previous tour of Australia as he had scalped 21 wickets in four Tests and had finished as the joint leading wicket-taker of the series.
Furthermore, Shami had also played a key role in India’s success in the previous series against Australia as he had snared 16 wickets. Meanwhile, India have two young pacers in Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini, who are yet to make their Test debut. Consequently, the onus will fall on Shami and Bumrah even more.
Kohli believes it makes sense to rest Shami and Bumrah and thus give chances to the youngsters in the team.
“It is a no-brainer. Shami and Bumrah have played the full IPL season and have been bowling [with] great rhythm. It is important to manage their workload and give them a break and hence the chance for youngsters comes into play. You want to see how people react in different situations; you are up against different situations. You come to India [team], you manage workloads… you have to look forward to youngsters to perform, maintain the balance. So it is important for us to manage bowlers’ workload. We have to see where our bowlers stand and managing workload will be a crucial factor,” Kohli said at a virtual press conference on the eve of the first ODI on Friday.
It will be crucial for India to keep their best fast bowlers fresh for the Test series as they will hold the key. The first Test match will be a Day-Night Test match and it will be played at Adelaide Oval from December 17 whereas the second Test will be played at the MCG from December 26.
