Jasprit Bumrah won’t be playing in the second Test against England in Birmingham, starting July 2, as confirmed by sources to NDTV. The fast bowler, who bagged five wickets in the first innings of the opening Test in Leeds, is being rested as part of managing his workload. There hasn’t been an official announcement about this yet. His absence will hurt the Indian team since the other bowlers struggled in the first Test. While Bumrah shone with a five-wicket haul, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj didn’t perform quite as well. Krishna ended up with figures of 3/128 in 20 overs and 2/92 in the second innings, while Siraj had 2/122 in 27 overs and 0/51 in 14 overs. Compared to Bumrah’s impressive 5/140 from 43.4 overs, their numbers show a big gap in effectiveness.
Before the series started, it was decided that Bumrah would only play three out of the five Tests. The next Test kicks off on July 2, and there’s a break until the third Test on July 10 at Lord’s, which Bumrah is expected to be back for. Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are the other specialist pacers in the squad, with all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy also an option. It looks likely that Arshdeep Singh will take Bumrah’s spot in the XI, although he hasn’t played a Test yet; he does have ODI and T20I experience. He is India’s top wicket-taker in T20Is with 99 wickets in 63 matches.
Former coach Ravi Shastri warned against resting Bumrah for the second Test, mentioning that if India ends up down 2-0, it could be tough to come back. Sunil Gavaskar also suggested that Bumrah should play in all five Tests, but coach Gambhir quickly dismissed that idea, emphasizing the need to manage his workload. He noted that it was decided before the tour that Bumrah would play three Tests, but they’ll keep an eye on how he feels as the series goes on.