He stated, “There’s talk about workload. How many overs did he bowl? Around 150 overs, but in how many matches or innings? Five matches or nine innings? That means 16 overs per innings or 30 overs per match. He bowled in multiple spells. Workload management is nonsense. It’s a term coined by the Australian team. I come from a time when cricketers listened to their bodies, not anyone else.”
He further added that bowling 15 overs in a day, even in different spells, is not a significant burden for bowlers. “You don’t bowl all five days of a Test match. They bowl in three or four spells within those overs. Today, you have good physios, good masseurs, excellent doctors who take care of your body. Despite this, if a bowler can’t even bowl 20 overs in an innings, he should forget about playing for India.”
He emphasised that representing India requires the ability to bowl at least 20 overs in an innings. “If you can’t do that, you should forget about playing for India and play T20 cricket, where you only have to bowl 4 overs, which are also bowled in three spells.” The former fast bowler recalled, “We used to bowl 20-30 overs a day. Kapil Dev bowled long spells throughout his career. When you bowl consistently, your muscles get stronger, so I don’t agree with the concept of workload management.”
In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, Indian Jasprit Bumrah took a total of 32 wickets at an economy rate of 2.76 in 151.2 overs (908 balls). His best performance in an innings was 6/76. He took five-wicket hauls three times and four-wicket hauls twice in the series. Jasprit Bumrah was unable to bowl in the second innings of the Sydney Test match due to injury.
