India suffered a heartbreaking defeat at Lords during the third Test against England, this has raised several questions about the team’s inability to take the game towards a win despite being in strong position. This is the second time India has lost the Test against England under Shubman Gill’s leardership which has left the visitors trailing 1-2 in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan highlighted the difference between India and England when it comes to work load management of players. India’s top pacer Jasprit Bumrah is scheduled to feature only in three Tests out of five which was a decision to manage his workload. Pathan slammed this cautious approach and mentioned that it might be hurting India’s rhythm especially when key players get rested.
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“Ben Stokes bowled a marathon 9.2 overs spell in the morning on Day Five. He is a 4D player. He bowls, bats and executes a crucial run out of Rishabh Pant but there is no talk of workload management. But in India we talk about workload management,” Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube channel.
“Jasprit Bumrah bowls five overs and waits for Joe Root to come out to bat when you need to control the game (in the second innings). You had your workload management when you were not playing. During the match, you don’t do workload management. There we could have improved. You have to win at all costs during a match. I said the same thing during commentary also.
“Archer was playing a Test match after four years but he did not stop. He bowled a six-over spell in the morning before returning to bowl again. Ben Stokes did not think about workload at all. He boels spell after spell. If he can bowl nine overs, hum toh peeche rah gaye (Indian pacers were left behind),” he said.
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Pathan even raised the issue of India giving too many extras. In the third Test India gave away 31 runs as extra in first innings and 32 runs in second innings, which made it a total of 63 extra runs.
“India also gave too many extras. If India would have given half the extras, we could have done far better.”
