Jasprit Bumrah (left) and Mohammed Kaif.
Credit: Reuters/DH Pool Photos.
Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is known to be the quintessential death-overs bowling specialist.
His toe-crushing yorkers have rattled the the timber of opposition batter's many a times.
Ask any batter, he would say Bumrah is the most feared bowler to face, especially in the death overs.
It is not that Bumrah isn't good with the new ball, but towards the end, the 31-year-old assumes a whole new dimension.
But in the ongoing Asia Cup T20 series, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav has given him kind of a new or rather 'unusual role' where he bowls three overs in the Powerplays and then one in the death overs.
Former Indian cricketer and Mohammed Kaif highlighted this fact with a post on X.
"Bumrah under Rohit would generally bowl overs 1, 13, 17, 19. Under Surya, in Asia cup, he bowled a three-overs spell at the start. To avoid injury, Bumrah these days, prefers to bowl while his body is warmed up. 1 over of Bumrah in the remaining 14 overs is a huge relief for batters, against stronger teams at World Cup, this could hurt India, tweeted Kaif one of the heroes of India's historic 326-run chase at the NatWest Trophy finals against England at Lord's in 2002.
But Bumrah, who is usually known to be a 'no-nonsense cricketer' did not take the comments lightly and literally bowled a yorker at Kaif with his reply to the latter's post on X.
"Inaccurate before inaccurate again," replied Bumrah with a thumbs-up emoji in what is being presumed as a terse response to Kaif.
It is worth mentioning that Bumrah's workload management has always been a subject of intense debate.
During the recent series against England, Bumrah, as well as the team think tank was pilloried by all and sundry for being rested for the second Test after India's loss in the first match. Even before the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy had started, it was decided that the injury-prone fast bowler will be featuring in only three of the five Test series which was drawn 2-2.
There is a school of thought that Suryakumar is relying more on spinners in the death overs in Asia Cup as the pitches at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium are more suited for the tweakers.
With tournament for continental supremacy reaching its business end, Suryakumar might still bring Bumrah to the 'backend' than using all his expertise in the 'frontend'.
Afterall, his heroics in the ICC T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last year where Bumrah delivered the 'killer blow' when South Africa where cruising along is very much etched in the memory of fans and aficionados alike.