Mark Boucher excited over ‘surprise package’ Mumbai bowling attack

MI head coach Mark Boucher addresses the media yesterday. Pic/Shadab Khan

Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mark Boucher called their bowling attack a surprise package in the absence of lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah ahead of this IPL.
"Our bowling attack is quite exciting for me. Bumrah has been a big loss for us, I'll be very honest. But with losing a player sometimes you get opportunities. And it's now time for the youngsters to show up, take the opportunities and showcase their skills. We've got experience in spinners in Piyush [Chawla]. We've got a couple of youngsters in Kumar [Kartikeya] and [Hrithik] Shokeen as well. Our bowling is going to be a little bit of a surprise package. So I'm looking forward to seeing them operate and operate well, hopefully," he said.

When asked about star English pacer Jofra Archer's fitness and rhythm in the nets, Boucher said, "We'll see Jofra [Archer] tonight, he is playing tonight [Wednesday's practice game]. Jofra obviously, has come off of a major injury. He's been playing a lot of cricket of late which is good, so I think he is in a good space at the moment. He is ready to get up there and perform which is a good space for us to be in. Hopefully, he can kick start this IPL with a bang." The former wicketkeeper-batsman from South Africa strongly disagreed with the concept of workload management in T20 cricket. "It's amazing we actually talk about workload in T20 cricket. Ten or 15 years ago we wouldn't be having this conversation. A lot of talk is given to workload and work type of stuff. I mean, you look at our schedule, it's a nice schedule, there's quite a bit of rest in between every game, so we can try and look after every player. I don't see workload being a major issue for us throughout the IPL.

"I think sometimes the media and people look too much into workload. Especially in the T20 format, it's a short game, three hours. Test cricket and one-day cricket is tough on the body but T20s are short, so we shouldn't be talking about workload with all due respect," he added.

Also read: 'Big miss': Rohit Sharma weighs in on Bumrah's replacement in IPL 2023