Jasprit Bumrah Workload Watch… 43.4 overs

3 minute read

England achieved a couple of things at Headingley. Most obviously, they won – but they also did so while compelling Jasprit Bumrah to bowl really quite a lot of overs. That’s an investment that might pay dividends later in the series.

Unleashed!

It’s easy being a really good batter because all you have to do is bat a lot, whereas it’s tough being a really good bowler because you’re inevitably asked to bowl a lot.

“I think there are certain spells where he can just unleash a little bit more,” said Joe Root – infamously – midway through England’s 2019 ‘Bowl Jofra Archer To A Broken Standstill’ project.

In the early part of his Test career, Archer bowled like a man who didn’t believe in tiredness. On one occasion, he delivered 22 overs of out-and-out fast bowling and then from his 23rd over onwards cranked the pace up even further.

Sometimes, as a Test fast bowler, you have to do a bit more work – that’s just the way it is – but this kind of thing is not sustainable in the longer-term. At some point you have to do less. This is not some great secret. Archer’s stress-fractured medical record tells us as much.

He’s actually back in England’s Test squad for the next match, after managing only two Tests in the last five years. Who knows whether he’s even now over all of this.

“We need a breakthrough here”

At the start of this year, Jasprit Bumrah played all five Tests against Australia, but halfway through the last one his back spasmed and said no.

These guys can bowl quickly when they’re tired, but it’s not just a matter of finding the energy. A good breakfast and a line of espressos won’t heal muscular microtrauma or tiny cracks in your bones. Without a longer rest, the body’s weakest link will continue inching towards its breaking point.

In short, there are only so many times you can say, “Can you warm up please, Jasprit? We need a breakthrough here.”

Shubman Gill will tell you that the first Test of this series was a very, “Can you warm up please, Jasprit? We need a breakthrough here,” kind of match. It wasn’t just that his premier quick was electrifyingly good – that much is a given – it was that two of his other seamers were for the most part stultifyingly bad.

If your main man reckons he’s probably only got three Tests in him, maybe four, the above is not a good equation to grapple with. Long term strategy may well tell Gill that he should be giving Shardul Thakur another over, but his short term tactical sentiments might well overrule on the grounds that doing so will most likely cost six runs with zero chance of a wicket.

So who instead? Prasidh Krishna? That probably feels much the same.

‘When did Jasprit last turn his arm over?’ Gill thinks to himself. ‘He must be fresh again now, right?’