After questions were raised over Mohammed Shami being rested for the crucial 3rd Test match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Indore, the Indian Team Management have defended their decision citing the need to keep the team’s precious pacers fit and raring to go.
Shami has been included in the ongoing 4th test, and in his initial spells he looked out of sorts. He bowled the first ball quite off the target and delivered a wide in the fifth, which beat the slips and went away for four. He improved over the day, picking up Labuschagne and Handscomb finishing with 2/65.
India boast of a formidable pace battery of late, consisting of Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed. Shami and of course the magical Jasprit Bumrah. Gone are the days when the team would bank on its spinners to win games for it. Taking lessons from the past, the team management has now put a Workload Management system in place which would keep the hardworking pacers fresh.
We have seen numerous raw talents fade away in the past, being over utilized and over exposed once they broke through the ranks. India’s best pacer at the moment, Bumrah has again gone into recuperation mode after a fresh injury which threatens to keep him out of action till the 50 over World Cup at home.
Hence the need for rotation and balancing of Workload is being felt more than ever resulting in the decision to rest Shami at Indore. That India lost the test, is a different story though.
Paras Mhambrey, India’s bowling coach, justified the decision, saying, “We look at the workload of individual bowlers and the way we looked at Shami has bowled a lot. We needed to give him that break. For us, that is also an opportunity for someone like Siraj or Umesh to get a game.”
He further added, “Looking after this series we have the World Test championship. We need to look at that as well. So going ahead I look at it that everyone gets an opportunity as that is also important. At this level I don’t see it as a problem, you at times have to rotate bowlers and it is important for the player as well,”. Shami though has opined differently in the past, saying that sometimes being rested while in good rhythm and form can affect a bowler. It did seem to happen to him in his initial spells of this test. Hopefully, he has regained his touch and can blitz through the Aussies.
