MSK Prasad opens up on how Jasprit Bumrah was selected for Tests
Prasad, who along with his panel copped a lot of flak for their lack of experience as players at the international stage, spoke about the process of selecting Bumrah for the longest format.
BCCI’s outgoing chief selector MSK Prasad has spoken about the tough decisions that he and his panel of selectors made during their tenure. One of the biggest contributions of this committee is drafting Jasprit Bumrah, considered for long as a limited overs specialist, into the Test team.
Prasad, who along with his panel copped a lot of flak for their lack of experience as players at the international stage, spoke about the process of selecting Bumrah for the longest format in an interview with Mumbai Mirror.
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“Not many believed that he could play Test cricket. So when the selectors and the team management realised that a bowler like him can be handy when we toured abroad, we set him on a fitness and grooming regime,” Prasad said.
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Bumrah, who is currently recovering from an injury, made an immediate impact in Tests and has had a splendid start to his career in red ball cricket. He is the third fourth fastest Indian bowler to the 50 Test wickets mark and is by far the only paceman from Indian in the list, having reached the mark in his 11th Test. He has 62 wickets in his kitty from 12 matches.
“We rested him from a limited-overs series and made him play Ranji before we picked him for the South Africa series. So there was planning that went behind Bumrah,” Prasad revealed while talking about Bumrah’s initiation into the longest format during the team’s tour of South Africa in early 2018.
Prasad also spoke about the inclusion of Hardik Pandya in the Test team and said that the popular opinion about Pandya too was not favourable.
“There was certain planning that went behind Hardik Pandya’s introduction into Tests. Again not many believed that a guy who comes from T20 background could go on to play Test cricket,” Prasad was quoted as saying.
