Shubman Gill, Indian cricket team captain, has ended the suspense over the availability of Jasprit Bumrah for the second Test starting in Birmingham on Wednesday. Bumrah was India’s best bowler in the 1st India vs England Test. After the conclusion of the series opener, head coach Gautam Gambhir declared that the management would not budge on Bumrah’s three-match utilisation. There were recommendations from fans and former cricketers to use Bumrah in all five Tests, but Gambhir quickly turned down the suggestion, claiming they were more concerned about his workload.
Now, Gill has said that a call on the final combination will be taken after the final practice session.
“Bumrah is surely available. We have to look into this workload management. We have to look into the final combination today at the nets,” Gill told reporters on the pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “We knew prior to the series that we would get Jasprit for three games, but we had that sorted beforehand. Yes, obviously we would miss him, but we have our plans sorted.”
Earlier, India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate addressed the concerns about Bumrah and declared that he is “available” but the management is yet to make a call on whether to send him to the on-field action or not.
“Yeah, he’s available for the game, obviously. We know from the start he’s only going to play three out of the five. He’s obviously had eight days to recover from the last Test. But given conditions and workload and how we think we can best manage for the next four games, we haven’t made a call on that. We’re going to see what the other guys are with their workload as well. So technically, yes, he’s available. But we haven’t made a decision on whether he’s going to play or not yet,” Doeschate told reporters in a press conference.
India lined up with its pace spearhead, Bumrah, in the series opener at Headingley but still ended on the wrong side of the result. He dazzled in the first innings with figures of 5/83 but lost his magic and returned wicketless in the second.
With Bumrah’s threat vanished into thin air, England trounced India by gunning down a 371-run target, their second-highest successful chase in the format.
