‘Bumrah has to work out what he wants to play’- Former cricketer Jeff Thomson makes blunt assessment of pacer’s injury woes

Former Australia pacer Jeff Thomson expressed that team India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will need to prioritize the formats of the sport considering his workload. Bumrah burst onto the scene in 2013 playing his first IPL match and quickly established himself as a lethal pacer across the three formats. There has been no stopping for Bumrah in all these years but pacer's injury woes have always troubled him.

However, the premier pacer has been out of action for India since September last year with a back injury. Though he was expected to return for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, the pacer complained of back pain and was later excluded from the team. Thomson opined that the pacer will need to work on which format of the game he wants to focus on.

“Well, he (Jasprit Bumrah) has to work out what he wants to play, short formats or Test matches or both. If I think about if I was playing now, it would be very hard for me to play Test matches. Especially, when you get so much money in the short version of the game which just makes your longevity better. We didn't have to think about money in our days because there was no money. Now it's a huge business,” Jeff was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

You have to be more cunning these days: Jeff Thomson

The former Australia cricketer accurately summarised the scenario faced by the cricketers of the current generation by pointing out that money plays a significant role in the game. He also opined on players to be cunning with respect to the workload.

“The only one who is going to look after you is yourself. So, you got to work out how long I am going to play for and how am I going to manage that because no one else is going to. I think you have to be more cunning these days in terms of workload and watch what you got to play. If you are good enough, they are going to pick you any way so you should be able to pull the strings,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bumrah has begun training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. The pacer could likely be in the mix to feature in the final two Test matches against Australia in the forthcoming series.