Irfan feels Bumrah "did not live upto expectations" of number one Test bowler, rates England tour performance 6/10

New Delhi [India], August 6 (ANI): Following India's brilliant series draw against England, former all-rounder Irfan Pathan was slightly critical of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah's performance in the series, saying that the world number one Test bowler did not live up to the expectations as he played in three matches, and India did not win any of them.
Bumrah could only play just three Tests of the 5-match series due to workload management. He was coming into the series after taking 18 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) season with Mumbai Indians (MI). After sustaining a stress fracture in his back during a record-breaking 32 wicket Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Bumrah used the IPL as a tool to prepare himself for international cricket after an injury layoff.
During the India-England Test series, he emerged as India's second-highest wicket-taker and overall joint-fourth-highest, with 14 scalps at an average of 26.00 and best figures of 5/74. He took two five-wicket hauls in the series. A surprising aspect was his lack of success with the new ball.
Speaking on his Youtube Channel, Pathan rated Bumrah's performance as 6/10 in the series, saying, "Bumrah will get six out of ten. Why? The reason is that when you are a senior player, there is a lot of responsibility on you to win matches. He played in three Tests, and India did not win any of them."
"Let us go back to the first Test. He took five wickets in the first innings but did not get a single wicket in the second innings (while defending 371 runs). At that crucial time, when your main match-winner is expected to step up and win the game, it is up to him to find a way, whether it is over the wicket, around the wicket, yorkers, slower balls, or bouncers, to create pressure. In the Leeds Test, we did not see that pressure being built. England ended up scoring heavily, and Bumrah did not take a single wicket, which was a bit surprising. And this did not happen just once," he added.
Pathan pointed out that there were moments, when a sixth over was needed out of a Bumrah spell, but he "held back a little".
"There were moments, like when a sixth over was needed. I spoke about this during commentary as well. Joe Root had been dismissed by him 11 times, and in that Lord's Test, Bumrah bowled five overs. Just one more over, the sixth, could have pushed harder. I felt he held back a little there. There was also some pick-and-choose, which I have always been against, and that was visible too," he said.
The former all-rounder noted that while Bumrah did perform whenever he played, he did not quite live up to his billing as a top-ranked bowler.
"To be fair, whenever he played, he did perform. He took a five-wicket haul and got his name on the Lord's honours board. But when you are the number one bowler, there is an expectation of number one-level performance, and I felt he did not quite live up to that," Pathan concluded. (ANI)