Jasprit Bumrah will miss the second India vs England Test in Birmingham starting on July 2, sources confirmed to NDTV. The star fast bowler, who took five wickets in the first innnings of the first Test in Leeds, will not play the second Test as part of workload management. Bumrah’s absence is bound to come as a big blow to the Indian cricketeam as the other bowlers lacked the fire-power in th first Test. While Bumrah took the first five-wicket haul of the series, Prasidh Krishna was expensive while Mohammed Siraj could not get enough wickets. Krishna’s figures were 3/128 in 20 overs and in the second innings it was 2/92 in 15 overs. Mohammed Siraj’s figures were 2/122 in 27 overs in the first innings and 0/51 in 14 overs in the second.
Compared to Bumrah’s figures of 5/140 from 43.4 overs at an economy rate of 3.20, the rest struggled to match his impact. fast bowleing all-rounders Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna combined to return with figures of 9/482 from 92 overs, a massive chasm.
Ahead of the series it was decided that Bumrah will play only three of the five Tests against England. The second Test starts on July 2 in Birmingham, and there is a little gap after that as the third Test starts on July 10 in Lord’s. Bumrah is likely to be available for the third Test.
Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are the two other specialist pacers in the squad. Medium pace allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy is another option. Most indications point towards left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh replacing Bumrah in the XI. While Arshdeep has not played any Test, he has ODI and T20I experrience. In T20Is, he is India’s all-time highest wicket-taker with 99 scals in 63 games. Shardul Thakur may also be dropped for Reddy to add more batting muscle.
Earlier, former India coach Ravi Shatri warned the side about resting Bumrah from the second Test. “If he (Bumrah) was looking at a rest, you may have to think twice. If you don’t have him and then go 2-0 down, it could be an uphill task,” Shastri said on Sky Sports.
Former India batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar had suggested that India should consider playing Bumrah in all five Tests. However, India coach Gambhir quickly turned down the suggestion, claiming they were more concerned about his workload.
“I think for us, managing his workload is more important because there’s a lot of cricket going forward, and we know what he brings to the table as well. So, before he came to the tour, it was already decided that he was going to play three Test matches. But let’s see how his body turns out,” Gambhir told reporters in the post-match press conference after the first Test.
More updates to follow
