Adam Gilchrist hails "freak of nature" Jasprit Bumrah ahead of India's T20I series in Australia

New Delhi [India], October 18 (ANI): Former explosive wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was all in praise of the current world's best Jasprit Bumrah ahead of his return to Australia after his famous exploits in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last year.

The 31-year-old travelled with India for the white-ball tour of Australia and will solely feature in the five-match T20I series. He was excluded from the three ODIs, which stems from his workload management. When he last toured Australia for Tests, Bumrah notched 31 scalps to top the wicket-taking charts with a tally of 32 at 13.06.

Even though Bumrah is restricted to the T20I action, beginning on October 29, Gilchrist is looking forward to seeing the versatile speedster dazzle on the crease, especially after his record-shattering run when he last toured Australia.

"Bumrah is not here for One-Days; he is here for T20s. We all sat in admiration of him last year and in amazement about him. He is a freak of nature, one of the best we will ever see. So that's something to look forward to," Gilchrist said on Fox Sports.

Bumrah's limited appearances are a result of a stress reaction in his back that occurred during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney in January. Since returning to the on-field action during last season's Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Mumbai Indians, Bumrah toured England and contested in three Tests out of five.

He then travelled to Dubai and returned with seven wickets in five matches at an average of 19.28 during India's unbeaten Asia Cup-winning title campaign. He then returned home and scythed seven wickets during India's 2-0 series sweep against the West Indies.

Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar explained the rationale behind resting Bumrah for the 50-over fixtures and told reporters during the squad announcement, "We have already rested him for the one-day games. When we can manage his workload, we will do that. Like I said in the previous press conference, there was a month and a half, or close to that, five weeks or something, since that Manchester test that he played. There is always a plan. Whenever you can give him a break, you will."

"Because we all know how important he is. But we have also got to see what is in the interest of the team. And when we need him to play, he is always available. We will look after not just him. (Mohammed) Siraj bowls a lot of overs as well. Other guys do play test cricket and will end up having a lot of bowling to do. We will try to manage all the seamers so that we minimise the risk of injury," he added.

India's T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar. (ANI)

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