IND vs AUS: How Simon Doull's Prediction of Australia's Plan to 'Cook' Jasprit Bumrah in BGT Came True

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Jasprit Bumrah finished the India vs Australia series as the leading wicket-taker, but the Indian pace spearhead could not bowl on a spicy wicket in the final innings of the Sydney Test, which ended with the home side winning by 6 wickets on Sunday (January 5).

Bumrah suffered an injury blow during the first Australian innings of the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with the pacer leaving the match mid-way to undergo precautionary scans for a back issue.

The 30-year-old Bumrah had singlehandedly helped India beat the hosts in the series opener at Perth, and later ensured the visitors put on a fight in the remainder of the BGT, in which he claimed 32 wickets in 9 innings at an incredible average of 13.06. Among his 32 wickets, Bumrah claimed a fifer three times.

Having bowled more than 150 overs in the five-match series, there was heavy load on Bumrah, and the premier pacer first needed treatment in the second Test at Adelaide, before he eventually broke down in the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull had indeed predicted Australia's plan to "cook" the Indian pace spearhead with the scheduling of the series even before India started the series Down Under.

"What Australia have done smartly is scheduling. They know that while batters are going to be key in some shape or form, but their biggest threat is Jasprit Bumrah. So they have gone with the three hardest and fastest surfaces, plus the Pink-Ball Test," Doull had said on Jio Cinema in November.

"They are trying to cook Bumrah. They will cook him in the heat of Perth, where he will have to bowl a lot of overs. Then he is going to have to go and bowl a lot of overs in that second pink-ball Test match in Adelaide.

"And then you've got to go to Brisbane where generally, first up, the seamers are quite good as well. So we're going to cook Bumrah in the first two, three Test matches, make sure he bowls a lot of overs. And then they're going to have to make a change.

"They're going to have to go to someone else. So I think the scheduling from Australia's point of view has been quite smart because very rarely do they start a series in Perth," he added.

India, however, did not make a change with Mohammed Siraj struggling to hit form of the previous tour, and another senior pacer Mohammed Shami not making the squad due to fitness issues. Team India changed only the third pacer with three players getting game time in the form of Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and Akash Deep.