Following India’s emphatic 2-2 series draw against England, former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has come down heavily on the ‘workload theory’ that has been a big topic of discussion in the recent series.
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Notably, talismanic India pacer Jasprit Bumrah was limited to playing only three of the five games in a bid to manage workload, a stance that has been taken by the Indian management even before coming to England.
This subsequently led to the absence of Bumrah in the decisive series finale when India were 1-2 down. However, Mohammed Siraj did an incredible job to spearhead the bowling attack and took a match-haul of nine wickets, including a fifer in the final innings to help India seal an unreal comeback win.
Siraj bowled a total of 185.3 overs, the most by any bowler in the series and Gavaskar cited this beast of a performance to take dig at those citing workload management.
Echoing on the same lines, Sunny G told India Today, “I hope that the word ‘workload’ goes out of the Indian Cricket dictionary. I’ve been saying that for a long time. For five Test matches nonstop, he bowled 6-over, 7-over, 8-over spells because the captain wanted it, and the country expected of him. And I think that is the one thing that we all should keep in mind that this workload is only a mental thing, not so much a physical thing.”
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With his tally of 23 scalps in the series, Mohammed Siraj claimed a total of 46 wickets in Test cricket on English soil, making him the second-highest wicket-taker among Indian bowlers. The 31-year-old surpassed the iconic Kapil Dev, who previously held 43 wickets in England. Currently, Jasprit Bumrah and Ishant Sharma jointly lead the list with 51 wickets each.
In addition, Miyan has also matched Bumrah’s record for the most wickets (23) by an Indian in a single Test series in England, a feat Bumrah accomplished during India’s 2021/22 tour.
Since his Test debut, the Gujarat Titans (GT) speedster has taken 104 wickets in overseas matches, the highest by any bowler during this period. Bumrah follows closely behind with 102 wickets.
The recent Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series proved to be his most successful series yet, eclipsing his 20-wicket haul in the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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