Jasprit Bumrah has been the standout bowler for India in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Test Series (2024-25) and played a pivotal role in driving India to a famous win in Perth in the absence of Rohit Sharma. Lauded predominately for his leadership skills, Bumrah had a devastating impact with the ball as his figures of 5-30 in the first and 3-42 in the second innings left the Aussies reeling in Perth. 

But well into the second Test, Bumrah's struggle with fitness became all too evident when the star pacer pulled up during his 20th over owing to a cramp.  Eventually, Bumrah got back on his feet after receiving treatment and was able to carry on. But concerns over his fitness for the remainder of the series loomed. However, India bowling coach Morne Morkel quashed all those fears once and for all and stated that the speedster still has a lot of gas left in him to fire at full throttle.

See also: Australia unveils their playing Xl for the third Test, Hazlewood comes in for Boland

Bumrah surprises everyone by turning to spin

In the build-up to the third Test, a clip of Bumrah's bowling has gone viral where he could reportedly be seen bowling leg-breaks before switching to fast bowling. After having a few friendly warm-up deliveries of spin bowling, Bumrah upped his velocity and fired an immaculate thunderbolt to beat KL Rahul past the outside edge of his bat.

 

Jasprit Bumrah started off with a couple of leg-breaks alongside R Ashwin but he’s now running in hot & bowling at full tilt, being an absolute handful to KL Rahul & Yashasvi Jaiswal #AusvInd pic.twitter.com/3IRzE0QXbm

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) December 12, 2024

 

From the above clip, it is evident that Bumrah is at his fluent best and appears to be operating at a steady pace thus putting all the notions of fitness issues to rest. 

Fleming raises alarm bells and refutes Morkel's claims on Bumrah's fitness

Contrary to Morkel's belief, Australian cricketer turned commentator, Damien Fleming had a different opinion on this matter and raised questions on Bumrah's fitness. He believed that Bumrah was suffering from something far more sinister than a cramp and further revealed that his bowling in the second innings spilled a lot of secrets to his foes. 

“There’s no way that’s cramp. He was very ginger after the break in the first innings. He bowled again, not quite as slow second innings. I don’t even know why he bowled that over [in the second innings]. That actually gave some secrets away to everyone." 

There has been considerable attention on Bumrah's workload due to his previous injury history. With players such as Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana delivering inconsistent performances in the initial two matches, there are recommendations for India to bring Mohammed Shami to Australia for the remainder of the series to alleviate some of the pressure on Bumrah.