New Delhi: As the dust settles on India’s T20 World Cup victory, BCCIThe national selectors along with the team management have started making plans for the World Test Championship (WTC) and the 2027 ODI World Cup. At the heart of the plan is the thorny issue of how to manage a superstar Pacer Jasprit Bumrahworkload. TOI understands that the BCCI wants Bumrah to play in all nine WTC Test matches next season, with his unique moves putting extra pressure on his 32-year-old body and putting his workload under scanner.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!India plays a one-off Test against Afghanistan in Chandigarh from June 6, but it is not part of the WTC cycle. India will play two Test matches each in Sri Lanka and New Zealand this year before Australia take part in the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy in January next year. Sources told TOI that despite the buzz surrounding the ODI World Cup, the priority this year is to revive India’s chances in the current WTC cycle. India is currently ranked number one. Ranked 6th in the WTC table.“Our effort is to keep Bumrah fit enough to play all the Tests. He is expected to play the four Tests in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. The challenge will be to keep him fresh for the five Tests at home against Australia. The selectors will not mind resting him in some ODI series. He played T20 cricket after a gap of two years at the Asia Cup in September last year and still performed well,” a BCCI source told TOI.
Bumrah played in three of England’s five Tests last year. However, the board now want him to play while clinically fit. After the series ended, Bumrah played all four Tests at home. With the next big T20I assignment still two years away, he is expected to play a negligible number of T20Is.Bumrah will be a key figure in India’s situation if they want to qualify for the World Trade Center finals. India have failed to qualify since Gautam Gambhir Take over as head coach. The team was also whitewashed at home by New Zealand and South Africa. The selectors said that if the first-choice Test players are fit, they must be able to play Test cricket. The call for the Afghanistan Test will be made at the back end of the IPL after looking at the workload of the players.“The idea is to take the Test seriously. The Afghanistan Test may be outside the WTC cycle but nothing is more important than match practice. The top players will be evaluated and they will be called up accordingly,” sources said.India Test captain after being eliminated by South Africa last season Shubman Gill Advocate for longer turnaround times from other formats in preparation for large test series. The last time India played a Test match against Afghanistan in 2018, all top players except Virat Kohli, who was suffering from a back ailment, played. Pay attention to Padikkal, Jurel, Gaikwad in the middle order Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel and Ruturaj Gaikwad are considered mid-range prospects, TOI understands. The team management believes that Jurel can be used as a pure batsman, while Padikkal is seen as someone who can challenge Sai Sudharsan for the No. 3 spot. The team management also feels that Gaikwad can counter-spin the ball in Indian conditions.
