“Are they really going to leave out their greatest match-winner with the ball?” - Nasser Hussain on Jasprit Bumrah’s 5th Test participation

Former England captain and commentator Nasser Hussain has opened up on the Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s workload management. Notably, Bumrah, who is expected to play only three out of five Tests against England, has already played three Tests, including the Manchester Test.

However, there are a lot of doubts about Bumrah’s participation in the fifth and final Test against England at the Kennington Oval in London. Nasser Hussain also wrote at length on people saying that India lost both matches in which Bumrah played, stating that it’s not the correct way to look at things.

"If they escape Manchester only 2–1 down, are they really going to leave out their greatest match-winner with the ball? People are saying that India have lost the two games Bumrah has played in and won the one he missed, with Siraj and Akash Deep bowling India to victory in the second Test at Edgbaston,” Nasser Hussain wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.

"But there are a lot of things that go into losing a game of cricket, and I don't think you can honestly say Bumrah's bowling was one of the causes of the tourists' defeats at Headingley and Lord's,” he wrote.

Furthermore, Bumrah looked awry for the first time on the England tour after conceding more than 100 runs, pocketing two wickets in the Manchester Test. Interestingly, he lost his pace by 5-6 mies per hour on the third and fourth days of the game.

"It's true that in this match, for the first time I can remember, Bumrah didn't make the best use of the new ball, bowling too straight at Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, when a fifth- or sixth-stump line is where you want to aim against these England batters," he went on to write.

"And, of course, the stat doing the rounds was that Bumrah had conceded 100 in a Test innings for the first time, in what is his 48th Test. You don't stop being a champion bowler overnight, and India will just be hoping they're forced into a difficult decision come The Oval," he added.

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