Bumrah situation gives selectoral headache

London: Ever since chief selector Ajit Agarkar declared that lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah would likely play only three Tests while announcing the squad for the England series, literally every press conference before and after a game here hasn’t passed without a question on the pacer’s availability and workload. “Will Bumrah play the next game?” is a standard question that, at times, has rankled the management.

While no one is saying it openly, it’s seemingly evident that the think-tank is somewhat miffed at having to handle this ‘complex’ issue of Bumrah’s commitment to play only three Tests. Bumrah, who has been plagued by persistent back problems and even missed a year of cricket from September 2022 to August 2023, did the right thing by informing the selectors that his battered body could only tackle three Tests based on medical advice. Apparently, he’s been advised that if he pushes his body beyond a point, it could even become potentially career-ending.

The selectors knew what they were getting into but picked the 31-year-old nevertheless. The logic there is simple. The Gujarati is the premier fast bowler in the world and if he could make an impact in the three games he plays, it could make a massive difference to the team’s fortunes. Only problem, the think-tank was tasked with taking the call on which three games he plays. 

Head coach Gautam Gambhir opted to play him in the series opener at Headingley for obvious reasons, then gave him a lot of rest to recover in time for the third Test at Lord’s. Then came the hard choice - do they play him in Manchester where the series was 2-1 in favour of England, or keep him in for the final at The Oval?

They took a punt on fielding him for the important Old Trafford affair and then were forced to rest him for the series finale. Since Bumrah bowled in just one innings in Manchester, expectations rose that he could play at The Oval, but memories of him breaking down in the last game of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney could have flashed before the management and scuttled the temptation to unleash him on a green-top, with the series still in the balance.

Being in a situation where the undisputed match-winner can play only a certain pre-decided number of games can complicate matters for the management in terms of team selection and player management. Yes, Bumrah is a bona fide star and has genuine medical issues, but imagine a young captain like Shubman Gill or head coach Gambhir trying to justify a decision to others who might be picked or left out depending on Bumrah’s availability. Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate echoed the difficulty of trying to identify which games Bumrah should play and justified leaving him out of The Oval Test.

“It’s quite a complex issue around Bumrah. We obviously want to wheel him out, but we also want to respect where his body’s at, and on the basis of that, we just felt that it wasn’t worth including him in the squad,” said ten Doeschate at Thursday’s press conference. 

“He has bowled a large number of overs. I know it doesn’t always seem like that because he’s only played three Tests and he only bowled in one innings in Manchester, but if you look at the loads, he’s bowled a lot of overs, and like he did say coming into the tour, he was going to be available for three games, and we just felt it was right to honour that call. I don’t think picking and choosing (games) is a fair comment to Bumrah. He did say he was going to play three games. He left it up to us which three he played. We’ve tried to manage the situation. It’s not ideal.”

Cut-off box - Woakes ruled out of fifth Test
The worst fears came true for England as their lead pacer Chris Woakes was ruled out of “any further participation” from the fifth and final Test after hurting his left shoulder while fielding on the opening day reports Sidney Kiran from London.
Woakes hurt his shoulder while diving to stop a Karun Nair cover drive from going to the boundary in the 57th over. The 36-year-old fell awkwardly before crashing himself onto the advertisement hoardings. He instantly clutched his left shoulder and was wincing in pain before being helped off the field.
The experienced Woakes’ unavailability is a massive blow to England already missing several key personnel for this game in cluding skipper Ben Stokes.