Bumrah always in business, no matter what the conditions are - Rohit

IND v SL: India captain Rohit Sharma says Jasprit Bumrah’s performance on a pitch assisting spin was magnificent.

Jasprit Bumrah accounted for eight of the 20 wickets taken by India in the second Test.

Jasprit Bumrah and R. Ashwin took seven wickets between them as India thumped Sri Lanka by 238 runs to win the pink-ball Test in Bengaluru and claim the series 2-0.

Bumrah followed up his first innings five-for — his first at home — with figures of 3 for 23 in the second, including the wicket of Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne, who hit a 173-ball 107. On a surface that was turning big with the odd ball keeping low, Bumrah troubled the Sri Lankan batters by moving the ball both ways.

India captain Rohit Sharma felt Bumrah's performance was magnificent and exalted his varied skillsets. “To come out and bowl like that in these kind of conditions shows how much skill and ability he has. Someone like Bumrah, he's never out of the game whatever the conditions are,” Rohit said after the match. “It gives the captain a lot of benefits, to rotate and get the best out of each bowler when you have quality like Bumrah in the team. He understands the conditions really well.

HIGHLIGHTS - IND v SL, 2nd Test, Day 3

“That is his plus point. To bowl on certain pitches, you need certain skillsets. And he seems to be bringing those skillsets into the game depending on what sort of assistance he has from the pitch. In Mohali we saw a different sort of pitch and he was still effective. This was a different kind of pitch. It was turning and bouncing and everything was happening for spinners. But Bumrah, the kind of skills he has, coming and hitting the stumps all the time. And if there's any lateral movement, he's always in play.”

Workload management

Bumrah, who made his Test debut in South Africa in 2018, has played only four Tests at home. Rohit attributed it to workload management and emphasised the need to wrap them up in cotton wool. “We have to rotate these guys. They continuously play and we've to take care of them. So he's missed a lot of games,” Rohit said. “When you speak to someone like him, he's quite keen to make an impact on Test cricket and he wants to play a lot of Test cricket. Moving forward, in coming years you'll see a lot of Bumrah playing Tests in India and abroad as well. But as I said, we need to look after these guys really well, make sure they are fresh so that they come out and perform the way these guys have done here. That's the challenge for us.”