'One Rare Kind': Gautam Gambhir Reveals Why Jasprit Bumrah Is The Only Player Allowed To Rest

Ahead of India's tour of Sri Lanka, Gautam Gambhir in his first press conference as the head coach of Indian Cricket Team made his intentions very clear to players that no one will be allowed to pick and choose series for rest, and expects everyone to be available whenever asked to play. 

However, Gautam Gambhir's availability rule is exempt for only one player and that is Jasprit Bumrah. Here's why Gautam Gambhir would only allow Jaspirt Bumrah out of all other players to rest regularly. 

Gambhir reveals why Bumrah is the only one allowed to rest 

Gautam Gambhir made it clear that he expects majority of Indian players including Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to be available to play most of the series. 

But that rule is not valid for Jaspirt Bumrah as Gautam Gambhir revealed that Given Bumrah's importance to Indian cricket in all three formats of the game, they need to manage his workload accordingly to keep him fit and injury free. 

“Workload management for someone like Jasprit Bumrah is important. Yes, for Jasprit Bumrah (workload management), he is one rare kind of a bowler. It's our responsibility to try and have him fresh for major games,” said Gautam Gambhir.

Not just Bumrah, Gambhir intends to manage workloads for fast bowlers in the Indian team to keep them injury free. However, he believes there isn't a need for batters to manage their workloads. 

“For batters, if they can play consistently and in good form, they might as well play all the games….I am sure they are going to be available for most of the games. Not just for Bumrah, but for most of the fast bowlers, workload management becomes really important,” revealed Gautam Gambhir. 

Also Read | 5 Big Takeaways From Gambhir's Address

Gautam Gambhir will take charge of the Indian side from his debut series as the new coach when India tour Sri Lanka for three T20Is and three ODIs. 

India T20I Squad for Sri Lanka Tour

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.

Also Read | Gambhir wants Rohit and Kohli for most games

India ODI Squad for Sri Lanka Tour 

Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

India vs Sri Lanka Schedule 

• First T20I: July 27, PICS (Pallekele) - 7 PM IST
• Second T20I: July 28, PICS (Pallekele) - 7 PM IST
• Third T20I: July 30, PICS (Pallekele) - 7 PM IST
• First ODI: August 2, RPICS (Colombo) - 2.30 PM IST
• Second ODI: August 4, RPICS (Colombo) - 2.30 PM IST
• Third ODI: August 7, RPICS (Colombo) - 2.30 PM IST