India vs New Zealand: 'You can't expect him to deliver in every series,' Ashish Nehra backs Jasprit Bumrah after poor ODI series

Former Indian cricketer Ashish Nehra has backed Jasprit Bumrah after the current Indian team's spearhead had an awful One-Day International (ODI) series where he failed to pick a single wicket.

Bumrah, who recently returned from an injury break, did not make any impact as India suffered a 3-0 whitewash against New Zealand. The result came right after Virat Kohli and Co defeated the hosts 5-0 in the Twenty20 International (T20I) series, where Bumrah with six wickets was second on the wickets chart behind Shardul Thakur's eight scalps.

"You can't expect Bumrah to deliver in every series. One has to remember he is returning from injury. It's difficult for anybody to keep performing at the top of his game all the time. Even Virat Kohli has had a quiet series," Nehra said in a recent interview.

Bumrah has been India's primary fast bowler for a while and it was no different in the latest limited-overs games in New Zealand. Even though he failed with the ball, the likes of Thakur and Navdeep Saina have done well, especially when India was without their senior bowlers Mohammed Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Pointing out Bumrah's role in the playing XI, Nehra has insisted that there is "too much pressure" on the 26-year-old.

"The Indian team management could be much better while picking the playing XI. The other pacers, besides Bumrah and (Mohammad) Shami, need to know their roles. They have got used to having Bumrah and Shami firing for the last two years. There's too much pressure on Bumrah. There has been very little consistency in the team selection so far," the former Indian fast bowler further explained.

Speaking about the upcoming two-match Test series between India and New Zealand, Nehra praising Saini said that the young bowler's "momentum" in the shorter format could fetch him a place in the Test playing XI ahead of Umesh Yadav.

"In the current scenario, Saini is better prepared for Test cricket than Umesh Yadav, since he has the momentum with the team. But he largely depends on the back-of-a-length deliveries. If he can get his length a bit fuller at his pace, he would open up more chances of getting wickets behind the stumps," Nehra added.