Exclusive | ‘Workload management only effective tool for Jasprit Bumrah’ - Dinshaw Pardiwala

Mumbai: India’s top sports surgeon Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, who has closely monitored Jasprit Bumrah, has an explanation for why the 31-year-old star pacer participated in only three out of five Tests in England this summer to manage his workload.

Bumrah, who underwent back surgery in March 2023 in New Zealand, has been under Pardiwala’s care for the past three years.In an interview with TOI, Pardiwala detailed the complexities of fast bowling on the human body. Excerpts...There has been a fair amount of criticism of Bumrah playing only three out of five Tests in England during the recent series due to workload management. Why was he available for only such a limited time in the series? As someone who has been involved with his treatment for a long time, could you explain why some fast bowlers are being subjected to workload management all of a sudden?Look, nature never intended for us, humans, to be fast bowlers, and our anatomy did not evolve such that we could perform this biomechanically challenging action repetitively. During fast bowling, the delivery stride involves back-foot strike, followed by front-foot strike, and ball release.

Significant hip rotation and shoulder counter-rotation occur between back-foot strike and front-foot strike. Simultaneously, the lower body suddenly brakes to allow the upper body and arm to pivot and use the kinetic energy to deliver the ball.

Additionally, on front-foot strike, considerable ground reaction forces are transmitted along the leg to the lower back. The brunt of all these excessive rotational and compressive forces is borne by small bones in the back (lumbar vertebrae) that were never meant to endure such stresses.

This is even more pronounced in fast bowlers who adopt a mixed action (front-on foot and shoulder orientation at back-foot contact, followed immediately thereafter by realignment of the shoulder to a side-on profile), and this makes them more prone to stress fractures of the lumbar vertebrae.

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Lumbar vertebrae stress fractures in fast bowlers are recognised as the worst injuries to endure since they take a long time to heal and often run an unpredictable course.

These are primarily repetitive overuse injuries, and there is a consensus today that preventing them is much better than curing them. This is even more critical if a fast bowler has already undergone surgery to fix these injuries in the immediate past.

There are two means of prevention: control the frequency of bowling and allow adequate recovery time between spells and matches (workload management), or decrease biomechanical loads by altering the bowling action.

The latter is not always possible or desirable in a fast bowler who is effective because of his action, and hence workload management is the only effective tool to ensure longevity in cricket for certain fast bowlers.Having known Bumrah for a while now, do you think that he’s the sort of athlete who would pick and choose games willingly?No athlete wants to miss games, and certainly not someone as competitive as Bumrah. However, sometimes, a cautious approach may be prudent. An effective elite fast bowler is a rare asset, and protecting this talent for long-term gains is in the best interest of the team and the sport.In comparison, his fellow India pacer Mohammed Siraj played all five Tests and bowled long, tiring spells in the same series. Is it fair to say that the term workload management is exaggerated in that case?Although workload management is important in all fast bowlers, not all fast bowlers have the same predispositions for injuries. Age, bowling action, and a history of prior lumbar vertebral stress fractures or surgery dictate the level of risk. This, in turn, decides the extent of protection. Mohammed Siraj has a classical fast bowling action which is side-on, and this has a lesser risk for a lumbar vertebral stress fracture.

Workload management is a term that itself has come under fire from a lot of former cricketers. How important is this concept in today’s cricket, when you have a busy season every year in all three formats? Prevention is always better than cure. As far as repetitive stress and overuse injuries in fast bowlers are concerned, workload management is the most scientific and effective tool we have for this as of now. We could opt to flog an athlete for short-term gains or preserve an asset for long-term benefits. Which is the better option is a collective decision made by the player, coach, and the medical team. And it's not always an easy decision, since when you are on national duty, every match and every win is important.There is speculation that Bumrah may not play Test cricket after this WTC cycle. How long do you think he can last in the red-ball format?This speculation is unfounded, and with appropriate workload management and fitness maintenance, Bumrah can expect to play many years of successful red-ball cricket.