The former captain of India, Sunil Gavaskar, has advised the team management, namely Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav to think of the possibility of resting pace spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah in the next match against Oman and the Super 4 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025. Gavaskar reckons that it can be important to maintain the fitness and freshness of Bumrah to stand any chance of winning the final of the tournament on September 28.
Why Did Sunil Gavaskar Advise Gautam Gambhir To Keep Jasprit Bumrah At Rest?
Up to the Asia Cup, Bumrah has played two games, in one of them against UAE and the other against Pakistan and has taken three wickets. Nonetheless, Gavaskar saw some rust in his performance and the constant playing in all matches may not suit such an important bowler. Suspending him would enable the pacer to regain balance and prevent tiredness or injury earlier than more significant games. Gavaskar also focused on the need to expose the other batters in India more in less significant matches. He proposed the Oman match to provide good batting time to such players as Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, and Hardik Pandya. Samson, especially, has the new position of batting No. 5 but has had little time yet to bat, and therefore the match is an excellent opportunity of trying the strength of the batting line up in India.
What More Did Sunil Gavaskar Suggest?
Moreover, Gavaskar suggested a change in batting order which is flexible. He hinted that Suryakumar Yadav would be tempted to lower himself in the queue in order to allow younger or less productive batters such as Tilak Varma to receive more practice with the bat. This according to Gavaskar would not only be helpful in the short term matches but also enabling the batting side to be geared into what lay ahead in the Super 4 matches which would be tougher against opponents such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. On the whole, one can note that Gavaskar is advising a load management strategy and long term planning.
