Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop reckons changing Jasprit Bumrah’s action is no longer possible. Bumrah has missed a lot of action due to his back injury and he also could not play in the T20 World Cup 2022 because of the same.
The ace paceman recently went under the knife in New Zealand for his back trouble and he is expected to return to action in August. Meanwhile, Bumrah has a short run up and his back has troubled him in the last year.
Bumrah’s services are deeply missed by India at the International level and also by Mumbai Indians in the ongoing IPL. It is well known that Bumrah has a unique action and the short run-up takes a toll on his back.
Ian Bishop told PTI, ”Everybody has got a unique way in how they formulate their action and Jasprit is more unique than most others, so I think he has got to use the physical gifts he was blessed with fine-tune it as he goes along. It is a tough one? How do you change? Mikey Holding is like a father figure to me and I know he spoke to Mark Wood about extending his run-up to alleviate the exacting force on his body compared to a shorter run. Mark has done that and it seems to have assisted him. So Jasprit is going to find his own way. I don’t think you can look at changing his action.”
Meanwhile, Bishop reckons the teams can not afford to play fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah in every tournament.
“Any fast bowler worth his soul can play all formats of the game all year and maintain his cutting-edge pace; it is just too demanding. The sprint up and down, the hamstring, the workload of the body – it has to be managed. I don’t think there is any one recipe. Because we don’t decide on the minds and bodies of these outstanding athletes. The decisions has to be made by the individuals and administrators close to him but I will throw one thing out for the governing bodies, it is just an advice. You can’t play these guys in every tournament.”
Bumrah is all set to miss the upcoming World Test Championship final against Australia, which will be played at the Oval. However, the team will be hoping that he returns to the setup before the 2023 ODI World Cup, which will be hosted by India later in the year.