If somebody is in such great form, you want to try and maximise – Rohit Sharma on Jasprit Bumrah

With a solitary Test remaining in hand, India will have to batten up their hatches if they are to level in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Following a defeat in Melbourne, questions have been asked about what can be the possible combination in Sydney in order for India to fight back. Speculating about the combinations, one of the major questions which have been doing rounds is around the workload of Jasprit Bumrah.

Talking in the post-match presentation, Rohit Sharma addressed the topic with an in-depth explanation, underlining the details of how India has actually overtly relied on Bumrah and what might be the possible future shuffles in case India decides to take a look at the alternatives.

Answering on whether there has been a risk of using Bumrah overtly, Sharma said, “To be honest, he has bowled a lot of overs. There is no doubt about it. But again, every Test match we play, we keep that in mind. You know, the workloads of all the bowlers in fact. But again, if somebody is in such a great form, you want to try and maximise that form how much ever you can. And that is what we've been trying to do with Bumrah.”

He further added, “But there comes a time where you need to step back a little bit and give him that little bit of extra breather as well. So, we've been very careful. I've been very careful. I talk to him about how he feels and stuff like that. So, yeah. Those things should be managed carefully. And I'm trying to do that on the field."

Adding light on the other frontline seamers, Rohit said, “Look, Akash Deep (five wickets at 54) and Mohammed Siraj (16 wickets at 31) are the frontline seamers. It's just that they've been very unfortunate not to be seen on the wicket column.”

He continued, “Siraj, especially, is bowling his heart out. I don't think there's anything else that he can do. Obviously, there are technical aspects of his game that he's looking into. But other than that, in terms of his effort, his attitude, bowling those long spells, he's always up there. It's just that the wicket column doesn't show how well he's bowled.”

Stating further, Rohit said, “So is Akash. In Brisbane and here, in both the games, he's bowled really well. It's just unfortunate that he couldn't get the wickets under his name. It's just everyone's job to make sure that whoever plays needs to get the job done for the team. It's not about one or two individuals."