Since Jasprit Bumrah came back into international cricket after an 11-month layoff following back surgery on Aug 18, 2023, he has bowled 37.4 overs for India in T20Is, 437.2 overs in Tests, and 128.5 overs in ODIs. Add his IPL workload, and it comes to 99.1 overs in the 2024 and 2025 editions of the T20 league.That’s 703 overs.Let’s reimagine this. Bumrah has hopped, skipped, walked to his mark, sprinted at the last stretch, leapt just behind the popping crease, landed on his left foot with a perfectly braced front knee, and with his unique action and a logic-defying wrist snap, delivered the ball at speeds between138 to 145 kmph, 4218 times in 22 months. Surely, over half of those 4218 sojourns to the bowling crease have been clutch moments.
Why are we discussing this?
Since Bumrah was rested for the second Test at Edgbaston, which India won by 336 runs last week, to be ready for the third Test at Lord’s, due to the pacer’s previous history with injuries, citing workload management, an avalanche of criticism came in the direction of the Indian team think tank as India had lost the previous Test at Leeds. There was also an eight-day gap between the first and the second Test.The decision to play Bumrah for only three out of five Tests has already not gone down well with some of the game’s stalwarts. But the team management has history to contend with.Bumrah famously broke down in Australia during the fifth and last Test at Sydney and a large reason for his back injury was attributed to India bowling him into the dust, especially in the fourth Test at Melbourne when he sent down 53.2 overs. His 24.4 overs in the second dig were delivered in nine spells at the end of which his tired plea to skipper Rohit Sharma, while panting and his hands on his knees, “Bas. Ab aur nahi lag raha zor,” has become viral material.Critics of workload management point to the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev delivering 1704 balls across five Tests Down Under in 1992, at the end of his career, while playing all the games of the Tri-series sandwiched between Tests, followed by the World Cup, and yet not breaking down.During commentary, former India great Sunil Gavaskar criticised the workload management theory and said modern players spend more time in the gymnasium. Citing the example of Kapil Dev, Gavaskar stated, “Kapil was hardly ever in the gym. He used to run around and then bowl to six or seven batters in the nets. Then he would bat himself and then bowl to a couple of batters more. He was doing what his profession required, which is to bowl, bowl, and bowl. His bowling muscles and his whole body were used to bowling.”However, Kapil Dev always had the benefit of a four-month-long off-season from May to Sept. For today’s cricketers, a four-month off-season is a luxury as cricket has become a 12-month sport. When not involved with international matches, they play in money-spinning T20 franchise leagues. The IPL itself stretches to 10 weeks and although a bowler usually just bowls four overs in these games, the amount of stress it puts on the body, thanks to the hustle of late finishes and constant travel, cannot be underestimated.Armed with cynical anger that social media provides an outlet to, users circulated and uploaded shots of Bumrah sitting with a yellow vest in the pavilion, chatting with Kuldeep Yadav, and smiling. In the same feed, the swipe generation, while uploading the videos of Aussie captain and pacer Pat Cummins defying everything to pull off a one-handed caught and bowled to dismiss West Indies batter Keacy Carty in the second Test at Grenada, asked, “No workload management here?”The question is not without merit.In the same period when Bumrah made his comeback from surgery, Cummins bowled 604.2 overs for Australia across formats and 110.4 overs for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. That’s 705 overs. All as captain.Cummins, 32, is a year older than Bumrah and after 2017, hasn’t suffered major injuries. From his debut as an 18-year-old in 2011 to 2017 though, he suffered six back stress fractures.Of course, today, he has the support of world-class operators like Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
Does Bumrah have that?
Starc, who is due to play his 100th Test in Jamaica next week, has endured a heavy workload too. The left-armer has bowled 618.1 overs for Australia and in the IPL, representing Kolkata Knight Riders (2024) and Delhi Capitals (2025), he bowled 77.5 overs. That is 696 overs of high intensity bowling.
Poll
Who do you believe has been more effective in managing their workload since August 2023?
Are we, in all the chatter surrounding Bumrah’s workload, forgetting about one bowler, who has bowled his heart out and has run in tirelessly, spell after lung-bursting spell, without breaking down?Mohammed Siraj, since Bumrah’s comeback in August 2023, has bowled 579.5 overs across 45 Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. In the two IPL seasons in 2024 and 2025, he has bowled 111 overs for RCB and Gujarat Titans, respectively. That’s a staggering 680.5 overs. Rarely has he checked in at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for rehab.If we check the scoresheets of the 19 Tests Indian pacers have played in since August 2023, the pacers have bowled 1186.3 overs in them. Of that, Bumrah and Siraj have together bowled 848.2 overs. That’s 71.49 percent of the workload on only two bowlers.
How long can this continue?
The supply line of cricketers in white-ball cricket seems endless. It’s the red-ball format that is crying for attention. India have been lucky to not lose Siraj to injury so far. But careful analysis of the overs and the effort he puts in shows that India may be pushing their luck too far.More than workload, what is affecting both Bumrah and Siraj, is lack of potent support.
