Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami are going to be India’s two biggest weapons in the upcoming series against Australia which includes six white-ball games and four Test matches, including a day-night Test match.
Both the bowlers were in prime form when India last toured Australia in 2018-19, drawing the T20I series, winning both the ODI and Test series. Apart from this Bumrah and Shami played throughout the IPL 2020 for the respective franchises, barring a game for Bumrah. Bumrah ended with 27 wickets, while Shami picked 20 wickets.
However, if reports from sources in BCCI are to be believed, Bumrah and Shami will not be playing in each of the six white-ball matches, as the team management would like to keep them battle-ready for the four-Test series beginning Dec 17.
Bumrah and Shami’s workload management is paramount for head coach Ravi Shastri and bowling coach Bharat Arun in case Ishant Sharma is not available for the first Test. The first red-ball warm-up game at Drummoyne Oval will be played on December 6-8.
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But India will also be playing second and third T20 Internationals, which will be coinciding with the first warm-up game for the Tests.
There is a school of thought that with Bumrah and Shami both being integral to India’s Test match plans, the management (head coach Ravi Shastri, captain Virat Kohli and bowling coach Bharat Arun) will not risk playing them in six back to back games in only 12 days.
“If both (Bumrah and Shami) play the T20 Internationals (on Dec 4, 6, and 8), then they will have one warm-up match less which I don’t think the team management will fancy at this moment,” a source said.
Hence there is a possibility that Shami and Bumrah will be rotated during the white-ball series. Shami has been seen primarily bowling with pink and red balls during net sessions, which is an indicator of where his and team’s priorities lie.
A possibility being discussed is both Bumrah and Shami playing the ODIs where they can bowl their 10 over quota and then switch to a Test match approach by playing the warm-up games which will help them get the overs under their belt before the Day-Night game at Adelaide Oval.
In fact, there is a pink ball warm-up game at the SCG from December 11-13.
If that happens, expect the Indian bowling line-up for the T20I series with Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan, and Navdeep Saini as the pace trio; while Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar make up the spin attack.
(PTI inputs)
