CHENNAI: Australian pace legend Glenn McGrath, who is the Director of the MRF Pace Foundation and along with chief coach M Senthilnathan is there to coach upcoming fast bowlers, said that the lay-off will help India pacer Jasprit Bumrah on his comeback during the Ireland tour later this month.
“It depends on how the injury is and the sort of expectations he has. I think he will be fine since he is a quality bowler. The lay-off will help him. Fast bowlers need that lay-off and time to get the strength back in their bodies. It depends on the work he has done off the field, how his back is and if he has done anything to his action. I think he has been there before and he has achieved it,” McGrath said in a media interaction on Monday.
The former pacer, however, felt that it is up to individuals whether or not to test themselves in domestic cricket before international games on comeback. “He’s got enough experience. He has enough games before the World Cup to test himself. Eleven months is a long time out of the game, but if you are coming off an off-season and you want to get into it, hopefully, that only takes a few games,” he added.
Coming to the ODI World Cup to be held later in India McGrath picks Australia as one of the four teams to make it to the semifinals. “The Australian Test team is a lot different to the one-day and the T20 teams, but I think they’ll do well in the World Cup in India. They are in my top four teams to make it to the semis. I put India, Australia, England and I put Pakistan in there as well,” added the former Australian pacer.
As has been the case throughout the year, Rohit Sharma’s captaincy will be in focus as India has not won a World Cup since 2011. While McGrath refrained from commenting on Rohit’s captaincy, citing that he has not seen that much of the Indian captain, he said that the best way to lead in a global tournament is to be proactive like former Australian captains Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.
An Ashes veteran himself, McGrath said that the recently concluded series between England and Australia was a good advertisement for Test cricket. He complimented England captain Ben Stokes’ attitude to declare time and again in order to work towards a positive result, rather than play out dull draws.
“I liked Ben Stokes' mindset (declarations) where he has a positive attitude and wants to go for a result. He is not afraid to take risks in order to press for a win. The Ashes was a great contest. The fact that it was so close every day was exciting. Although my prediction 5-0 (in favour of Australia) didn’t quite work out to have a series like that, I think it’s great for Test cricket,” he said.
