Glenn McGrath advises Jasprit Bumrah to 'stay strong and fit', carefully manage workload to prolong career

The mainstay of the Indian pace attack, Jasprit Bumrah, has been mired with one injury after another. Besides obviously stealing the sheen from India’s bowling line-up, the persistent injuries have put the promise of a prolonged career for the 29-year-old in jeopardy. However, it will serve him well if he heeds to what legendary Australian pace Glenn McGrath suggests to him to ensure a run free of troubles. Bumrah has had four major injuries in the last four years: a thumb injury in 2018, a lower back stress fracture in 2019, abdominal strain in 2020-21, and the latest, which is the most career-threatening of them all — a second stress fracture in the back, throwing him out for almost a year . McGrath feared that Bumrah’s unorthodox bowling action puts undue stress on his body, his back particularly — the part that has been injured twice — and cautioned him to prioritise his fitness to minimise the chances of injury and prolong his run. “He (Bumrah) has been incredible for India. His bowling stats, the wickets he has taken, and the way he bowls, I am a big fan but his bowling action puts a lot of stress on his body. So he needs to stay strong and fit. If he does that he could play for a few more years,” McGrath said on the sidelines of a fast-bowling camp organised by the MRF Pace Foundation. While both McGrath and Bumrah are very different kinds of bowlers, there are a few things that are quite similar between them: success and trustability. Although Bumrah is way behind the feats McGrath established, there is no doubt that both are the greats of their time and are pacers to be reckoned with. And just like Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting always were found looking at McGrath when the batting side needed to be reined in, Bumrah has been the go-to bowler for former Indian captain MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, under whom he became the well-rounded paceman who tore through batting lineups. McGrath believes if Bumrah wished to follow the same trajectory he needed to be more picky with the games he’d play and the one’s he’d better not, given the scale of cricket these days. “With the current international schedule and the IPL, there is no off-season anymore for a fast bowler, especially for someone like Jasprit, who needs an off-season to pull his strength back in. So that’s a decision he needs to make himself (on whether to give up on one of the formats). It is getting harder to play all three formats. That is something Jasprit will have to think about moving forward because what he does is unique and is quite tough on his body too. I think he has a lot more to offer for the rest of his career,” said McGrath, who suffered way fewer injuries in his career spanning 14 years than Bumrah in seven years. The Aussie pointed towards a few successful pacers, who have seen long careers without being troubled much by successive injuries, for Bumrah to draw lessons from. “There is a lot of cricket played these days. It puts a strain on your body, but you have to know how to recover and find time to put strength back on your body. Guys like James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Courtney Walsh played for many years as they knew how to manage their bodies. I worked hard on my fitness, and I had an easy action which made my comeback from Injury easier.”