DEATH, TAXES AND BUMRAH

Premier pacer takes yet another five-fer as India secure a slender six-run first innings lead

- FIROZ MIRZA @ Chennai

IT was Jasprit Bumrah, who stood between Australia and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, till the second day of the fifth Test a few months ago. Captaining in absence of the regular skipper Rohit Sharma, the premier Indian pacer claimed eight wickets including a five-fer in the first innings of the opening Test in Perth to hand the team a winning start.

Back spasm, however, prevented him from bowling further in the final Test in Sydney as the hosts completed a 3-1 win to finally lay their hands over the trophy after more than nine years. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the Gujarat pacer has been single-handedly shouldering the bowling responsibility for the country irrespective of the formats despite being hampered by injuries over the years. Given his unorthodox bowling action and importance to the Indian team, the team management has decided to manage his workload and it is because of this the bowler is expected to play only three Tests in the ongoing five-Test series in England.