Former India National Cricket Team all-rounder Irfan Pathan has opined that the doubts over the availability of Jasprit Bumrah cause a big confusion in the team and affect the performances of other bowlers.

According to the World Cup-winning all-rounder, the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna will be forced to play an attacking role in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah rather than bowling defensively.

Jasprit Bumrah doubtful for second Test against England

India are trailing the ongoing five-match series against England 0-1 after the loss in the first Test at Headingley in Leeds, and the second Test between the teams will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham from July 2 to 6.

Jasprit Bumrah is doubtful for the second match of the series because of his workload management. Before the start of the series, it was announced that the premier pacer would only be featuring in three out of five Test matches in England to avoid suffering any injuries.

Indian team management is all set to go ahead with that plan even after the 5-wicket defeat in the first Test, as managing Bumrah’s workload is the No.1 priority, claimed head coach Gautam Gambhir.

There were some talks about Jasprit Bumrah playing more than three Tests if his workload was less, but that wasn’t the case in the first game, where he bowled 24.4 overs in the first innings and 19 overs in the second innings.

Any bowler needs stability, and when it’s not there, there won’t be performance – Irfan Pathan

In a video shared on his official YouTube channel, Irfan Pathan said that Jasprit Bumrah‘s bowling partners are forced to change their role depending on his availability, which leads to instability and poor performances. He stated:

“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.”

The youngsters were not given priority – Irfan Pathan questions Ravi Shastri

Irfan Pathan further questioned former India head coach Ravi Shastri for not focusing on developing fast bowlers for the future and only using pacers from a small group to get the results in the team’s favor. He stated:

“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 were available during Shastri’s tenure. They used to play the majority of games, and one-off games were played by Navdeep Saini, T Natrajan also played in Australia, but was nowhere to be seen after that. The youngsters were not given priority.”

Irfan Pathan didn’t even spare the former India T20 World Cup-winning head coach Rahul Dravid. He said that Dravid gave a few opportunities to the likes of Jaydev Unadkat, Prasidh Krishna, and Akash Deep but played senior pacers in the majority of the games. He said:

“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.”

Currently, India have Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Shardul Thakur, and Nitish Kumar Reddy as pace-bowling options in the Test squad for the series against England.

Also Read: Ben Duckett exposed by Aakash Chopra after being crowned ‘Best all-format batter in the world’