Irfan Pathan reveals advice for Bumrah-less Indian pace battery ahead of 2nd Test against England

With Jasprit Bumrah all set to be rested for the second Test match against England to manage his workload, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan wants the other fast bowlers to be aggressive. Pathan noted that Prasidh Krishna bowled defensively in the opening Test and he needs to have an attacking mindset in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah.

The lanky pacer from Karnataka returned with figures of 3-128 in the first innings in 20 overs he bowled, conceding his runs at an economy rate of 6.40. 

In the second innings, Krishna took two wickets but once again gave away 92 runs in 15 overs he bowled, conceding his runs at 6.10.

On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah returned with impressive figures of 5-83 in the first innings and did the bulk of the damage.

Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “How can it be sorted? The major challenge is that Bumrah’s partners bowl defensively, take a look at Prasidh Krishna, for example. But when Bumrah won’t play, then Krishna has to become an attacking bowler. Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj have to become attacking bowlers. You’ve to play a different role when Bumrah is playing and when he isn’t playing. It creates confusion. Any bowler needs stability, and when it’s not there, there won’t be performance.” 

Pathan added that the experienced fast bowlers were preferred under former head coaches Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid’s tenure and the youngsters were not given their opportunties.

“What was the mindset during Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid’s regime? They used to go with the quality they had and wanted to get results. If you look, Bumrah, Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Ishant Sharma was available during Shastri’s tenure. They used to play the majority of games, and one-off games was played by Navdeep Saini, T Natrajan also played in Australia, but was nowhere to be seen after that. The youngsters were not given priority.”

“Even during Rahul Dravid’s regime, Bumrah, Shami, Siraj grew there. They also went to Jaydev Unadkat, which was well deserving as well because he performed exceedingly well in domestic cricket. Otherwise, young fast bowlers were not given importance. Akash Deep played 3-4 games; Prasidh Krishna got 2-3 matches. During the majority, only senior fast bowlers played,” he added.

The second Test match between India and England will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from July 2nd onwards.