"Usko chhor de"- Ishant Sharma on what he told Virat Kohli when the latter wanted to advise a struggling Jasprit Bumrah

Veteran Ishant Sharma was the spearhead of the Indian pace attack in Tests when Jasprit Bumrah made his debut in the format in 2018. In almost no time, Bumrah, Ishant and Mohammed Shami became India's premier pace trio in overseas Tests and were one of the main reasons for some of their incredible wins on foreign soil.

Ishant opened up on an incident during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia where Jasprit Bumrah struggled a bit to find his radar. When the then-captain Virat Kohli wanted to have a word with Bumrah, Ishant stopped him.

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Ishant Sharma explained why he felt Jasprit Bumrah already had leadership qualities and the ability to understand what needed to be done in crunch situations:

"I knew one day Bumrah will become a leader. I remember in 2018, when we were playing a Test in Australia, Bumrah’s first spell didn’t go down well. Virat told me ‘I think I should go and speak to him’. I replied, ‘He (Bumrah) is a very smart bowler. He understands it. Usko chhor de. Usko pata hai kya karna, kya nahi karna (Leave him be. He understands what is needed). That he’s quite smart. He understands the game and situation.’ When you understand the situation, especially in Test cricket, you can comeback quickly."

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India will hope Jasprit Bumrah returns for the final two Tests against Australia

Jasprit Bumrah has also been incredible in the few Tests that he has played on Indian soil. In just four games, he picked up 14 wickets at an incredible average of 15.64 with a five-wicket haul to his name.

The hosts do have other options in the pace department, but they would also want Bumrah to return to competitive cricket towards the backend of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.