India had their first training session on Tuesday after the 10-wicket loss against Australia in the second Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Ahead of the team’s departure for Brisbane, which will stage the third Test, the team practised at the Adelaide Oval nets, but the major concern pertained to the absence of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah from the training session. Other Indian fast bowlers, including Harshit Rana, who faced criticism for his performance in the second Test, having gone wicketless for 86 runs, were present and bowled full throttle against the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, both Siraj and Bumrah skipped the practice session ahead of the must-win game in Gabba. While one could imply that the team management is only looking to manage the workload of the two fast bowlers, the sight of Bumrah spending time with the India’s strength and conditioning coach on the sidelines of the training session in Adelaide sparked a major concern.
‘There’s no way that’s cramp…’
During the 20th over of Australia’s first innings, Bumrah was seen clutching his inner thigh in pain as India sought medical assistance immediately. However, he shrugged off any injury concern as he returned to the attack quickly. India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel, too, dismissed the incident as a mere suffering from cramps. But the concern remained, especially after his bowling speed drastically dropped in the second innings, sparking fear over his participation in the third Test.
Former Australian cricketer Damien Fleming, speaking on SEN Radio, feared “serious doubts,” when told that Bumrah skipped the training session on Tuesday. He also blamed India captain Rohit Sharma for making Bumrah bowl in the second innings when Australia were made to chase a target of just 19 runs.
“There’s got to be some serious doubts. Siraj might be workload [related] but I’m bemused Bumrah bowled that over. They could have hid this. They showed their hand,” he said.
“There’s no way that’s cramp. He was very ginger after the break in the first innings. He bowled again, not quite as slow second innings. I don’t even know why he bowled that over [in the second innings]. That actually gave some secrets away to everyone.”
With no Mohammed Shami, this was always an underlying fear about Bumrah, given the long Australian tour, and an inexperienced supporting line-up. But if Bumrah misses out on the Gabba Test, India might pick Akash Deep as a replacement, implying Siraj will lead the attack at the venue, much like he did four years back in the team’s historic win.
