Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has recently said that India will need to adopt a strategic approach with their premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah in order to get the best out of him.
Hogg believes that Bumrah has the ability to win matches single-handedly for India, and therefore should definitely be utilised at Lord’s and Edgbaston.
“You’ve got to be very strategic with those three Test matches,” Hogg told RevSportz. “Where are you going to get the most benefit out of him? Because he can turn the game, he can turn the series on its head. So you want to make sure that you play him at Lord’s, definitely, and probably Warwickshire.”
“I probably wouldn’t even play him in the first Test match” – Hogg on Bumrah
The former left-arm wrist-spinner further suggested that, in order to play Bumrah at Lord’s and Edgbaston, India could rest him for the first Test at Headingley in Leeds. He added that this could be a tactical ploy, where England might relax a bit in Bumrah’s absence, only to face pressure when he returns in the second match.
“And 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 crucial games. I probably wouldn’t even play him in the first Test match, actually. 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.’ But 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,” Hogg added.
The world’s number one Test bowler has an outstanding record in England. He has played nine Test matches there, picking up 37 wickets, including two five-wicket hauls. His best bowling figures in an innings in England are 5 for 64.
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