Legendary Glenn McGrath has urged Jasprit Bumrah to add longevity to his career. Bumrah has been troubled by a plethora of injuries in his career and suffered a back injury, which kept him on the sidelines for a long period of time.

The Indian ace pacer played two ODIs against England but was ruled out of the third game at Lord’s due to a knee injury. Bumrah has been picked for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka but his selection will be subject to fitness clearance from BCCI’s CoE.

“Well, again it’s up to him what he wants. How old’s Bumrah now? 31- 32? He’s only a spring chicken. So he’s got to find a way to have a bit of longevity. He’s had a few injuries unfortunately, but he’s class, a quality bowler. Just see what he wants to do. That’s what it comes down to: whether he wants to focus on Test cricket or whether he just wants to play T20. It also depends on his body. And like I said, guys who hyper-extend their arm do place a bit more stress through that joint there. So we’ll see what the future holds,” McGrath, who is part of the MRF Pace Foundation, said on Monday.

McGrath highlighted that Bumrah is injury-prone as he doesn’t have a natural action and his short run-up puts a lot of load on his body.

“It’s the nature of the beast being a fast bowler; it’s not a natural action so injuries are part of the game,” McGrath, who played 124 Tests and 250 ODIs, said. “Where I’m a little disappointed these days, and it’s probably been that way a little bit for a long time, is that they put them (fast bowlers) in cotton wool. We try to nurse them back to full fitness, and we protect them. The best way to do it is to get stronger than the stresses of fast bowling. To do a rehab program for months and months puts your fitness and your strength so far behind that you’ve got so far to catch up,” he added.

India will play the first Test match against Sri Lanka at Galle from August 15 onwards.