Gambhir's Old Critique of Injury Management Goes Viral as Bumrah Set to Miss 2nd Test
Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, as per multiple media reports, is likely to sit out the upcoming second Test against England in Birmingham. This news comes after Gautam Gambhir, the head coach, confirmed, following the defeat in the series opener in Leeds, that Bumrah would play only three Test matches in the series, as his workload needs to be managed.
Even before the Indian team flew to England for the five-Test series, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had indicated the premier pacer wouldn’t be able to participate in all five games. Bumrah suffered a back injury on the Australia tour and was away from cricket for over three months.
The decision makes sense as Gambhir doesn’t want his best player to suffer a similar fate yet again. However, before becoming the head coach Gambhir wasn’t a big fan of workload management. In fact, during an interaction on Star Sports, Gambhir went as far as saying that he was never a fan of ‘injury management’.
“I am a very strong believer in one thing, that if you are good, you should be playing all the three formats. I have never been a big believer of ‘injury management’” Gambhir said.
Explaining the rationale behind his thought process, Gambhir said a player, who is good enough should represent the country in all three formats as there is no bigger honour than for any athlete.
“You got injured, you go and recover. As simple as it gets. You are playing international cricket, and you are good enough - you ask any of the top players - they want to play all the three formats. They don't want to be labelled as red-ball bowlers or white-ball bowlers,” he added.
Speaking specifically of injuries, Gambhir opined that they are part of a professional athlete’s life and shouldn’t be used as an excuse to miss games for the country.
“Injuries are part of sportsmen's life. And if you are playing all the three formats, you get injured, you go back and get recovered but you should be playing all the three formats. I am not a big believer to identify people that okay we are going to keep him for Test matches and we are going to keep him and we are going to manage his injury and workload and stuff,” he concluded.