Irfan Pathan Criticizes Jasprit Bumrah's Selective Play Style In England Series

After the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, a new discussion has emerged after the Test series. This time the discussion is more about Jasprit Bumrah's playing style and his playing approach rather than his bowling or batting. Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his displeasure over Bumrah's 'pick and choose' style.

Before the start of the five-match test series, BCCI had already made it clear that Jasprit Bumrah will not be playing all the matches due to his workload management. But when India was trailing by 1-2 in the series and the last match seemed to be important in the series being the do-or-die, still he was given rest. To this only, Irfan Pathan raised many questions.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Irfan Pathan said,

“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've always been against, and that was visible too.”

According to Irfan Pathan, there was a particular time in the Lord's Test when Jasprit Bumrah should have tried harder. He bowled only five overs against Joe Root, whereas he has dismissed Root 11 times before. In such a situation, if he had bowled the sixth over, the result could have been different. Irfan feels that Bumrah pulled himself on a back foot a bit.

Irfan Pathan also said that Bumrah's performance was good on some occasions, but he did not play according to the team's expectations. He said,

“Bumrah will get six out of ten. Why? The reason is that when you're a senior player, there is a lot of responsibility on you to win matches. He played in three tests, and India didn't win any of them.”

He said that when you are a senior player on the team, you are expected to win matches. India could not win any of the three tests he played. Because of this, his contribution comes under question.

Talking about the first test, Irfan said that in that match Jasprit Bumrah took 5 wickets in the first innings, but he could not take a single wicket in the second innings.

Further, he said,

"Let's go back to the first test. He took five wickets in the first innings but didn't get a single wicket in the second innings. At that crucial time, when your main match-winner is expected to step up and win the game, it's up to him to find a way, whether it's over the wicket, around the wicket, yorkers, slower balls, or bouncers, to create pressure. In the Leeds Test, we didn't see that pressure being built. England ended up scoring heavily, and Bumrah didn't take a single wicket, which was a bit surprising. And this didn't happen just once."

Irfan believes that when you are a mentor or a senior member of the team, your every action on the field matters. Just one or two good spells are not enough, but it is important to lead the team every time it needs you. Especially against a team like England, where matches turn around under pressure.

He said that in the Leeds Test, Bumrah was expected to put pressure on the English batsmen, but it did not happen. Neither the bouncer nor the yorker nor the tight line length had any effect, and England scored big runs.

This comment of Irfan has become a topic of discussion on social media. Some people agree with him, while some believe that it is wrong to criticize Bumrah because he was playing under workload management. But one thing is clear: the team has very high expectations from a player like Bumrah, and when he is on the field, every ball matters.