‘They can either get destroyed, or…’: Brett Lee’s honest assessment of Jasprit Bumrah-less bowling attack in Sydney

One of India’s concerns and criticisms throughout the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been the performances and support provided to Jasprit Bumrah by the team’s third and fourth seamers, and if the bowling quality of Nitish Kumar Reddy has been enough for the management to be confident in using him as an outright fourth option.

Reddy finally delivered with ball in the first innings of Australia at the SCG, as he took the significant wicket of Pat Cummins as well at Mitchell Starc to ensure India kept a narrow advantage in the first innings. With Bumrah off the field and not bowling at the time, Reddy’s wickets came in clutch for the Indian team.

A similar sentiment was shared by former Australian fast bowler Brett Lee, who spoke to Fox Cricket following stumps and commended Reddy for his crucial contribution.

“I was so happy for India that they had Nitish Reddy, who picked up two wickets, literally as Bumrah’s getting whisked away in the car to go get a scan done,” said Lee.

India will be slightly concerned regarding Bumrah’s fitness, with India’s lead pacer and most significant contributor suffering from back spasms at the end of a gruelling and high-pressure five-match series.

‘The rest of the pack step up…’

Lee, nevertheless, said India could take confidence from the performances of Reddy, Prasidh Krishna, and Mohammed Siraj in the first innings. Siraj and Krishna took three wickets each, a big positive especially if Bumrah isn’t at 100% when defending what is likely to be a small total.

“I think (India’s pace bowlers) can do it. It’s going to be tougher for them, because Bumrah has been the enforcer. But sometimes, when you take away the main enforcer and the rest of the pack step up, that’s obviously when they can play their best cricket,” argued Lee. Indian fans will be reminded of the famous Gabba win in 2021, where a makeshift pace attack of Siraj, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini was responsible for the bowling side of the victory.

Finally, Lee added that with support from a pitch which has shown plenty of spice and assistance for the faster bowlers, he expects the Indian bowling to be competitive and remain in the hunt even while defending a smaller total, with the visitors leading by 145 but 6 wickets down. “It can go two ways. They can either, get destroyed in the second innings, or they can do what they did in the first innings and step up to the plate, which I think they will on this wicket,” concluded the Australian.