Image: Sunil Gavaskar defended the Indian cricket team management / © News Nine
Jasprit Bumrah had an outstanding tour of Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, finishing as the top wicket-taker with 32 wickets at an impressive average of 13.06. His exceptional performance earned him the Player of the Series award, even though India lost the series 1-3 to Australia.
The 31-year-old pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, couldn’t bowl in the second innings due to a back spasm. This loss of a key bowler hurt Team India as Australia successfully chased down 162 runs in just 27 overs. Australia won the Test series 3-1 at home, securing the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Sunil Gavaskar defended the Indian cricket team management, saying they made the best decision for the team. He explained that having Jasprit Bumrah absent during key moments could have worsened India’s position, despite the criticism about overloading the pacer during the five-match Test series. He said:
I think they did what was best for the team, because without him, India would not have been in any position in the series. Therefore, when you have a bowler who’s taking the wickets, you tend to over bowl him to an extent, and that is totally understandable. I don’t think we can blame the team management for this because they and Bumrah were only looking to do what was good for the team at that particular point in time.
Jasprit Bumrah bowled 53 overs in two innings in the Boxing Day Test, taking eight wickets to help India. After bowling over 141 overs in the first four Tests, he managed only 10 overs in the Sydney Test before an injury forced him off the field, leading to blame on the team management.