Manchester, July 26 (IANS) Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has expressed concerns about the fitness of India pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the ongoing fourth Test against England, adding that the heavy bowling workload has started to take a toll on them.

Till day three, Bumrah and Siraj bowled 28 and 26 overs respectively, but had to spend some time off the field due to ankle concerns. “That’s why the game’s called Test Cricket. It is a test – it’s a physical test, it’s a mental test and challenge. They’re probably lucky that they had a big break coming here. There’s a nine-day break, I think, wasn’t it? A seven or eight-day break coming here. So they had a reasonable break to freshen up.”

“But there was always concerns about Bumrah and Siraj, really, getting through this Test series with as many games under their belt as possible. This is, I think, the fourth game now for Siraj. So, they’re starting to take its toll, there’s no doubt about that,” said Ponting on Sky Sports’ broadcast ahead of day four’s play.

He also raised concerns over Bumrah not bowling at his top pace in Manchester. “Bumrah did look a bit flat right from the start of this game, to be honest. You look at his pace it has been sort of 82-83 miles an hour on average right the way through this game, which is probably three or four, five miles down on what he normally is,” added Ponting.

He further credited England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett for keeping India under pressure through their 166-run opening stand. “But you’ve got to give credit to the England batters as well. I thought Duckett and Crawley at the top really put this Indian bowling attack under a lot of pressure from the start. They haven’t found a way to recover or bounce back.”

“We know that’s the way that England want to play their cricket. It’s the way they’ve played their cricket for the last three or four years now, and it’s really starting to pay dividends for them.”

–IANS

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