'That's Madness': Dale Steyn Trolls India Over Benching Bumrah With Ronaldo Reference
Dale Steyn has criticised India's decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah in the second Test against England despite his stellar performance in the first.
Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn on Wednesday took a massive dig at the Indian team management, indicating that it was sheer madness on their part not to play ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the second Test against England at Edgbaston, despite him being their best bowler.
India, enduring a rough patch in Tests since October 2024, have managed just one victory in their last nine games, marking their worst run in over a decade.
India Test skipper Shubman Gill and his men lost the opening Test against England by five wickets in Leeds and with an eight-day gap to the Edgbaston Test, many expected that Bumrah might play the second and give the third Test a miss.
'So Portugal have the best striker in the world in Ronaldo, and they chose not to play him. That's madness. That's like India having Bumrah and choosing not to play, umm, him… wait, oh, no, what! shit I'm confused 😵💫," Steyn tweeted on Wednesday night.
Bumrah had claimed his 14th five-wicket haul in the first innings at Leeds and everyone expected that he would play at Edgbaston and give India a much-needed bowling firepower.
After the toss on Wednesday, Gill told former England cricketer Michael Atherton that Bumrah was rested to manage his workload.
The Indian team management had made it clear before the series that the ace pacer would feature in a maximum of three Tests, due to workload considerations.
Bumrah, who missed three months of action earlier this year because of a back spasm suffered during the Sydney Test against Australia, became the first Asian pacer to bag 150 wickets in SENA nations during the first Test.
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