During a press conference in Mumbai before departing for the Sri Lanka tour, Gautam Gambhir, the new head coach of India, spoke about the value of Jasprit Bumrah for the national team. The 42-year-old remarked that Jasprit Bumrah is a “rare bowler,” who is needed to play important games, which is why he is rested often to manage his workload.
After returning from a career-defining injury last summer, Jasprit Bumrah has dominated the sport at the international and franchise levels. He played a major role for Team in reaching the final of the ODI World Cup 2023 before winning the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
While speaking to the reports ahead of the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka, Gautam Gambhir addressed the reason behind resting Jasprit Bumrah. He remarked, “I’ve said it before, workload management for someone like Jasprit (Bumrah) is important. He is one rare bowler that anyone would want. You want him to play important games. That’s why the workload management for not just him but fast bowlers is important.”
Apart from talking about Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian head coach also alluded to what the future holds for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. He said, “If you are a batter who’s batting well, you might as well just play all formats. Rohit and Virat have retired from T20Is now, so they will play two formats from now. Hopefully, they are available for most of the games.”
Notably, the Indian cricket team is scheduled to take on Sri Lanka in the three-match T20I series in Pallekele, starting from July 27. Following that, a three-match ODI series will be played in Colombo, with the first one set to happen on August 2.