Jasprit Bumrah Slammed For 'Pick And Choose' Stance In England Test Series: "Held Back..."
Irfan Pathan criticised Jasprit Bumrah for his 'pick and choose' approach in the recently-concluded Test series against England.
- Irfan Pathan criticised Jasprit Bumrah for holding back and pick-and-choose approach during England Tests
- "Felt he held back a little there. There was also some pick-and-choose, which I've been against": Irfan Pathan
- Pathan rated Bumrah six out of ten for his performance in three Tests where India did not win
Former Indian cricket team all-rounder Irfan Pathan criticised Jasprit Bumrah for his 'pick and choose' approach in the recently-concluded Test series against England. The BCCI made it clear ahead of the Test series that Bumrah will not play all the five matches. The pacer ended up playing three games and despite India trailing 1-2 with one match to go, he was rested to manage his workload. Pathan pointed out that Bumrah was holding back on certain occassions and cited the example of the Lord's Test where he could have bowled for a longer period of time against Joe Root.
“There were moments, like when a sixth over was needed. I spoke about this during commentary as well. Joe Root had been dismissed by him 11 times, and in that Lord's Test, Bumrah bowled five overs. Just one more over, the sixth, could have pushed harder. I felt he held back a little there. There was also some pick-and-choose, which I've always been against, and that was visible too," Pathan said on YouTube.
Pathan went on to say that although Bumrah did perform well on occasions, he did not live up to the expectations that the team had.
“Bumrah will get six out of ten. Why? The reason is that when you're a senior player, there is a lot of responsibility on you to win matches. He played in three Tests, and India didn't win any of them."
“Let's go back to the first Test. He took five wickets in the first innings but didn't get a single wicket in the second innings. At that crucial time, when your main match-winner is expected to step up and win the game, it's up to him to find a way, whether it's over the wicket, around the wicket, yorkers, slower balls, bouncers, to create pressure. In the Leeds Test, we didn't see that pressure being built. England ended up scoring heavily, and Bumrah didn't take a single wicket, which was a bit surprising. And this didn't happen just once,” he added.
Irfan Pathan
Jasprit Bumrah
England Cricket Team
India Cricket Team