By News18
Australia captain Alyssa Healy has said that Jasprit Bumrah has bowled the most number of overs than any pacer since last year in Tests, and since he has a life to live, India will have to be wary of not undoing the result of his surgery and injuring him by pushing him too much during the England series.
Bumrah, who took five wickets in the first innings of the Headingley Test, was always uncertain for the second Test, but the fact that he featured in two of India鈥檚 three practice sessions sends out mixed signals.
The decision could have been a lot easier had India won the Leeds Test, but with a long gap between the first and second Tests, there is a chance that Bumrah plays in Edgbaston and gives the Lord鈥檚 Test a miss.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir has said that the management is going to monitor Bumrah鈥檚 workload, but a premature decision might not be the best way forward for the team.
Bumrah has bowled 410.4 overs since last year, followed by Mitchell Starc at second with 362.3 overs.
鈥淪o they are managing his workload. But did you see that stat pop up? He has bowled the most amount of overs than any quick since 2024 in Tests. He has already had that surgery,鈥 Healy said while speaking on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.
鈥淎nd he鈥檚 still having issues. As a human being, that is worrying. He鈥檚 got a life to live, he鈥檚 got a young family and if you can鈥檛 take part in normal life. If you undo that surgery by breaking him again, you鈥檝e lost him forever,鈥 Healy added.
The question mark ahead of the Edgbaston Test is over Bumrah鈥檚 availability. If he does not play the second of his decided quota of three Tests, the pace line-up is expected to be Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna.
With Bumrah hard to handle at the other end, the pacers didn鈥檛 have the required consistency in their lengths to test England batters. They would be wiser after that experience, and if Bumrah does not play, they will have a lot to prove.