Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that the absence of a potent third seamer was India’s biggest bowling issue in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 as well. He further added that Mohammed Siraj was eventually burned out by the end of the series, with Jasprit Bumrah’s injury-forced absence in the final Test making things worse.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “Fast bowling is a pack. India couldn’t prepare that pack. When (Mohammed) Shami wasn’t there, you knew we were slightly deflated. Then you played a debutant (Harshit Rana) with Siraj at the start. He played two matches and then you played Akash Deep. He was bowling well, he was unlucky, and in the end, you played Prasidh Krishna. In all this, Siraj was cooked and how. He bowled the most overs for India in this series. If you see the entire year, he has just bowled too much. He has kept bowling continuously across formats. He tries his best. Miyan Magic is like that, but in the end, Siraj was absolutely cooked, roasted and toasted.”

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In the same video, Aakash Chopra also named Jasprit Bumrah ‘the pole star’ of India’s bowling.

“Bumrah is the shining star. He is the pole star. No matter how dark the night might be, he keeps showing you the way. He is that kind of a player – 32 wickets. If he had been fit and had bowled in Sydney’s second innings, he wouldn’t have allowed even these many runs to be scored. To be fair, he went out in the first innings after picking up two wickets. The other fast bowlers put all their might and kept themselves alive, gave India a lead of four runs, but it wasn’t going to happen without Bumrah in the second innings,” Aakash Chopra concluded.