India’s stand-in captain, Rishabh Pant, kept on calling Bumrah back into the attack upon seeing the lack of wickets for the other bowlers on Day 2 as South Africa’s score went past the 400-run mark.

India’s squad for the series against South Africa is expected to be announced on Sunday evening, with KL Rahul the frontrunner to lead the team in the absence of Shubman Gill, who suffered a neck injury during the first Test against the Proteas.

It is expected that Bumrah will miss the ODI series and then return for the five-match T20I series to stay in tune for the shortest format ahead of the upcoming World Cup. Hence, it is no surprise that Karthik also feels Bumrah would miss the ODIs.

“I don’t think he will play the ODI series after a Test match like this. In the T20I series, he will. But for the ODI series, I don’t think he will. He will put his hands up and say, Thank you. That is a lot of bowling for one man,” Karthik said on air.

It is worth mentioning that Bumrah had also missed the three ODIs against Australia earlier, and he returned to action in the T20I series.

Bumrah’s workload

After playing just three Tests in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England, Bumrah was criticised by some former players for picking and choosing in a high-profile series.

However, after the series against England, Bumrah featured in the Asia Cup, two Tests against the West Indies, five T20Is against Australia and now the two Tests against South Africa.

Bumrah was also irked by the workload question during the first Test against the Proteas, and he gave an irritated response to the same.

“I try to give my best in whichever format I play. These questions are not my questions; I will not answer them. I try to play as much as I can. I try to take care of my body,” said Bumrah during the post-day press conference.