Bumrah’s workload has to be cautiously managed: Prasad

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah made a sensational Test debut in the series against South Africa. He not only played all the three matches but also bagged 14 wickets in the Test series becoming India’s second most successful bowler on the tour after Mohammed Shami. Apart from the Test series, Bumrah also featured in 6 ODIs and two T20 internationals on the tour. With terrific figures across formats Bumrah emerged as the biggest gain from the two-month long tour.

New Delhi: Pacer Jasprit Bumrah made a sensational Test debut in the series against South Africa. He not only played all the three matches but also bagged 14 wickets in the Test series becoming India’s second most successful bowler on the tour after Mohammed Shami. Apart from the Test series, Bumrah also featured in 6 ODIs and two T20 internationals on the tour.  With terrific figures across formats Bumrah emerged as the biggest gain from the two-month long tour.

The 24-year-old bowled a whopping 162.1 overs on the tour, including 112.1 overs during the Test series in South Africa. Post the hectic tour, selection committee chairman MSK Prasad has lauded the efforts from the fast bowler and stated that workload on Gujarat speedster has to be managed cautiously moving ahead.

"I am delighted with Jasprit's performance. We always had confidence in his abilities as he had done well for Gujarat in Ranji Trophy. But now our primary goal is to monitor his workload very carefully with so much international cricket ahead. We need to be careful that he is not over-used," Prasad told PTI during an exclusive interview. "If you look at his action, it is a rare one and he can be prone to injuries. We need to use him for the important Test series coming ahead. For each and every fast bowler, the balance of workload is very important and the high performance team will be monitoring it closely," Prasad added.

Explosive batsman Mayank Agarwal (2141 runs across formats) who broke plethora of records this domestic season was surprisingly ignored when the team for upcoming Nidahas Trophy was announced on Sunday. Clarifying on the decision Prasad said that after the omission he spoke to the Karnataka opener and explained him the rationale behind his non-selection.

"No player should be confused about where he stands. Our committee speaks to every player -- even those who are to selected and try to give them a fair picture. Accordingly, I spoke to Mayank and told him that with his brilliant performances in domestic cricket, he has now definitely got himself in the mix (national team reckoning). I told him that he is now in the queue."We have followed a pattern in our selection process. Each and every national contender is in the queue and we don't believe that anyone can jump the queue. Mayank is a wonderful kid and he completely understood what I explained to him. He told me 'Sir, you are spot on and 'I am not in a hurry at all," Prasad added.