Former India players Robin Uthappa said that due to ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s demanding action and high pacer, it was necessary to manage the the 32-yaer-old’s workload. Bumrah was rested in the ODI series against South Africa after playing the 2-match Test series and returned to play the T20Is. He had also played the T20I series against Australia a couple of months ago while also sitting out the ODI series.
“He is an absolute match-winner, and managing his workload is crucial. Fast bowling is probably the toughest skill in the sport, and Bumrah does it at high pace with a demanding action. You want to protect that, but at the same time, you want him to play enough cricket. We’ve seen glimpses of his brilliance, and hopefully he can build consistency over the next few games heading into the World Cup,” Uthappa said on JioStar’s ‘Cricket Live’.
Bumrah played a leading role in the 1st T20I against South Africa, taking 2 wickets, helping India to a massive 101-run win. He would struggle in the 2nd T20I and miss the 3rd T20I while the 4th T20I was abandoned due to excessive fog in Lucknow.
The series is currently at 2-1 in India’s favour with South Africa needing a win in Ahmedabad in the 5th match on Friday to level the series at 2-2.
“South Africa have played very competitively, but they’ve been a bit hot and cold in the T20I series. That said, it has still been very entertaining. I thought they bowled really well, while their batting has been a little inconsistent. It’s going to be an interesting contest (in Ahmedabad) because they will want to level the series. Overall, they’ve had a great tour. They dominated the Test series (2-0) and were competitive in the white-ball formats as well. India came back strongly, but South Africa will want to win the next one and head home with their heads held high,” said Uthappa.
Former South African pacer Dale Steyn, however, said his team had “exceeded expectations” on their tour of India.
“Winning the Test series was outstanding, and they were very competitive in the ODIs. They might feel they let the first ODI slip after winning the toss and losing early wickets while chasing. Had they won that, they could have finished the ODI series 2–1,” said Steyn.
“Out of the three T20Is so far, India have been the better team. They bowled South Africa out cheaply in one game, conceded runs in another, but then dominated again in Dharamshala. If India win the series, I would say well played — they would deserve it. But I’m hoping South Africa turn it around. They’ve had a wonderful tour,” he added.
(With agency inputs)
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
