Jasprit Bumrah has been right up there among the best bowlers in the world, if not the best, a reliable pacer who can turn the game around in a single spell.
This ability to hold the game by the scruff of its neck was on full display during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he took 32 wickets in nine innings at a whopping 13.06 average.
However, this has made India over-reliant on its ace speedster, which resulted in a mid-term back injury that he suffered and missed a few months of action.
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Citing recurring back injury issues, the bowler is now advised to play in 3/5 of the upcoming England series, and Brad Hogg, the former Australia spinner, has the perfect plan to strategize Bumrah's usage. See what he has to say.
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Brad Hogg suggests leaving Bumrah out of the series opener vs England:
The 54-year-old who has turned into an expert after his 18-year-long career with the Aussies, has had a stint with Warwickshire back in 2004, has advised Bumrah's presence in Edgbaston alongside the Lord's, where the bowler will be of the best use.
"You've got to be very strategic with those three Test matches. Where are you going to get the most benefit out of him?"
"He can turn the game and the series on its head. So you want to make sure that you play him at Lord's, definitely, and probably Warwickshire," said Hogg.
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Adding to that, the former cricketer feels resting Bumrah up for the first Test and deciding upon whether to use him in either the 4th or 5th Test would make England think twice and play the series opener accordingly.
"I don't know where you'd play him in the other three Test matches, but you want to make sure you play him in those [2nd and 3rd] crucial games. I probably wouldn't even play him in the first Test match, actually," he revealed.
"I'd just go, 'Right, England, we don't have Bumrah.' And you could just see England thinking, 'Oh, they don't have Bumrah — that's good, we don't have to face him.' Then they're going to start worrying about him in the second Test match. And if he turns the tide in the second match, then all of a sudden, England are playing catch-up. So I'd add a bit of by-play there," he concluded.