"It creates confusion" - Former India cricketer's huge claim on Jasprit Bumrah's workload management during ENG vs IND 2025 Tests

Amid question marks over Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for the second Test in England, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has shed light on how the bowling unit’s contrasting role, depending on the ace pacer's availability and absence, will affect their performance. The cricketer-turned-YouTuber stressed the other bowlers would face difficulty changing gears from bowling defensive to attacking lengths.

The remarks came as Bumrah’s bowling partners failed to deliver in the opening Test at Headingley as England successfully chased down 371.

Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube channel:

“2:24 – How can it be sorted? The major challenge is that Bumrah’s partners bowl defensively, take a look at Prasidh Krishna, for example. But when Bumrah won’t play, then Krishna has to become an attacking bowler. Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj have to become attacking bowlers. You’ve to play a different role when Bumrah is playing and when he isn’t playing. It creates confusion. Any bowler needs stability, and when it’s not there, there won’t be performance.”

The 40-year-old also pointed out how India failed to groom young fast bowlers during Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid’s coaching tenures. He continued:

“3:04 – What was the mindset during Ravi Shastri and Rahul Dravid’s regime? They used to go with the quality they had and wanted to get results. If you look, Bumrah, Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Ishant Sharma was available during Shastri’s tenure. They used to play the majority of games, and one-off games was played by Navdeep Saini, T Natrajan also played in Australia, but was nowhere to be seen after that. The youngsters were not given priority.”

“3:52 – Even during Rahul Dravid’s regime, Bumrah, Shami, Siraj grew there. They also went to Jaydev Unadkat, which was well deserving as well because he performed exceedingly well in domestic cricket. Otherwise, young fast bowlers were not given importance. Akash Deep played 3-4 games; Prasidh Krishna got 2-3 matches. During the majority, only senior fast bowlers played,” he added.

“You could’ve taken a few of them” – Amid Jasprit Bumrah's woes, Irfan Pathan feels India could’ve groomed young fast bowlers during the Bangladesh tour

Irfan Pathan further took an example of the Bangladesh tour in December 2022, citing that Team India missed an opportunity to groom young fast bowlers. He said in the same video:

“4:18 – When they went to Bangladesh. They took Mohammed Siraj, who had played around 12-13 Tests. Should they’ve played young fast bowlers to grow? You could’ve taken a few of them alongside Unadkat, and a bigger group could’ve been prepared.”

Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav were the leading fast bowlers in the two-match Test series in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Jaydev Unadkat got a solitary opportunity in the second Test.