'Now it's a huge business' - Former Australian cricketer Jeff Thomson's blunt advice for Jasprit Bumrah

'Now it's a huge business' - Former Australian cricketer Jeff Thomson's blunt advice for Jasprit Bumrah (Image soure: Twitter)

Jasprit Bumrah, the Indian pacer, is ruled out of the first two Tests against Australia and the right-arm bowler awaits his international comeback, although fans claim that he would make his comeback only for the Indian T20 League. The talented pacer has been at the centre of injuries and was ruled out of the 20-20 World Cup 2022, making it a huge setback for team India, who eventually lost to England in the semi-finals. 

Former Australian cricketer Jeff Thomson opened up on the pacer and claimed that it is up to the Indian pacer to decide on which format he wants to play. Further, Thomson claimed that it would be difficult for Bumrah, pacers in specific, to bowl continuously over the year and that it would be challenging for the Indian pacer to be available across formats. 

“There is so much cricket. They play all year round. We didn't do that. We used to play seasons, the summer season. Occasionally we would go to England for our winter. It was a long tour, four and a half months. But generally we just played the summer so we would gradually build up after Christmas full on. Because I knew I was going to get rest,” Thomson was quoted as saying to Revsportz. 

In our day we didn't rest: Jeff Thomson

Further, the former Australian cricketer recalled his days and said that his generation of cricketers never used to rest, but not anymore as it is a 12-month job nowadays. Notably, with the increase in franchise cricket, the cricketers, pacers in particular, are finding it extremely difficult to prioritise among country, franchise and break. 

“Now, you can't do that. So you have to pace yourself to be around. That's why they have all those back up bowlers and they rest people. In our day we didn't rest. If we had a rest someone else would take our spot. It is a matter of having to rest these days because it is a 12-month a year job,” Thomson was quoted as saying. 

“Well, (Bumrah) has to work out what he wants to play, short formats or Test matches or both. If I think about if I was playing now, it would be very hard for me to play Test matches. Especially, when you get so much money in the short version of the game which just makes your longevity better. We didn't have to think about money in our days because there was no money. Now it's a huge business,” he added.