IND vs ENG, 2nd Test: With Jasprit Bumrah set to miss Edgbaston, who will India turn to?
Jasprit Bumrah, by far India's most wicket-taking option, is all set to miss the second Test of the India vs England Test series for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, as reported by The Indian Express earlier on Thursday. And India will have to think quick to come up with a plan – although they have known for a while that Bumrah wouldn't be available for all five matches. After bowling 44 overs at Headingley, in all probability the pacer will sit out for the second Test at Edgbaston. He is expected to return for the third Test at the home of cricket in London on July 10.
India's limited options in Bumrah's imminent absence for the Edgbaston Test next comprise a right-arm pacer returning from injury, an untested left-arm seamer, and a left-field but in-form wrist-spin option.
Right arm Fast Medium
Tests: 7; Wickets: 15
First Class matches: 38; Wickets:128
Akash Deep's efficiently repeatable skill set could offer India an immediate solution for certain inconsistencies with the Dukes ball. His ability to generate nippy movement off length can keep the English top-order guessing, assisted by his characteristic wrist snap. The Bengal seamer is also comfortable putting the wobble seam to effect when veering away from his natural straight-seam grip deliveries. While the challenge will be to keep deliveries fuller, Akash's control over lengths will be of particular interest.
Left arm Medium Fast
First Class matches: 21; Wickets: 66
Yet to make his Test debut, Arshdeep Singh brings the left-arm angle to India's pace attack in England for the first time in 14 years. Still young in terms of red-ball experience, Arshdeep's ability to produce late swing and movement can keep him in contention for a new-ball role with a compromise on pace.
Left arm Wrist spin
Tests: 13; Wickets: 56
First Class: 43; Wickets: 164
A left-field option to replace India's pace spearhead would be Kuldeep Yadav. The spinner brings sheer wicket-taking qualities to the field, even on relatively flatter decks. Difficult to read at the top of his mark, the wristie who last played in England seven years ago (a forgettable Lord's outing) can impose a sharper challenge on the sweep shots employed by the Englishmen while relying on his recent overspin upgrade and bounce to test the bat edges.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Gazette
an hour ago
- India Gazette
"I was talking to Shubman...": PBKS' Harpreet Brar speaks on how he joined India's net session at Birmingham
Birmingham [UK], June 29 (ANI): As Team India gears up for the second Test against England, the left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was joined by Punjab Kings (PBKS) teammate, and spinner Harpreet Brar and Chandigarh pacer Jagjit Singh Sandhu. The second Test will kickstart from July 2 onwards, and left-arm pacer Arshdeep, who is India's leading T20I wicket-taker, would be eyeing a potential Test debut after a poor show from Indian pacers, except for Jasprit Bumrah, at Leeds. Speaking in a video by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Brar said that his wife lives near Birmingham, and skipper Shubman Gill texted him, prompting him to come to practice. 'My wife is from Swindon. It is very close to Birmingham, it is a 1-1.5 hour drive. I was talking to Shubman; he texted me yesterday. So I thought, let us go and practice there,' he said. He also expressed happiness with Arshdeep's journey over the years, saying that he feels 'proud' of his performances. Brar impressed in PBKS' runners-up finish in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year, taking 10 wickets in eight games at an average of 19.00. Arshdeep clearly enjoyed the arrival of Brar and Sandhu, saying, 'When you come to a foreign country and see familiar faces, you can enjoy together.' Sandhu, the 28-year-old pacer, has played 24 first-class games, taking 82 wickets at an average of 24.13 and scoring 317 runs at an average of 16.68 with a fifty to his name. Recalling his journey with the Indian team players, Sandhu said, 'Rishabh Pant and I played Under-19 Zonal one-day cricket together. When it was my last U19 season, Gill had his first. I played with Akash Deep in the Duleep Trophy, played with Washington Sundar in the U19 zone as an opponent. Arshdeep is also my junior, used to tell him how to bowl, take a run-up and all. Today he was asking me things as well.' India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Praggnanandhaa interview: ‘I don't think I'm trying to prove anything to anyone. I just like playing chess'
R Praggnanandhaa is on the hottest streak of his career. The UzChess Cup is the third title of 2025 he has claimed after the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee and the Superbet Chess Classic Romania. Remarkably, in all three classical tournaments, he won through tiebreaks, under faster time controls. In a freewheeling interview with The Indian Express, Praggnanandhaa talks about 'feeling dead' in the middle of the tournament, earning the respect of the older generation like Magnus Carlsen, and why winning the Wijk aan Zee event was crucial for his season and more. Excerpts: The UzChess Cup is the third tournament you have won this year besides ending second via tiebreaks in a 4th event. What is the secret of your success in 2025? Praggnanandhaa: I don't think there is a secret ingredient. It's just about keeping on fighting in every game. The main thing is the mental aspect. I'm much more confident and ambitious than last year. In this tournament, for example, I had to win the last two games to have any chance of winning the tournament and I was playing Arjun (Erigaisi) and Nodirbek (Abdusattorov), who are two of the strongest players right now. I still managed to win which required a lot of mental effort. I'm happy that it's showing on the board. What changed that gave you this confidence and ambition? Praggnanandhaa: Winning Wijk aan Zee was very important, it gave me a lot of confidence, especially those three wins I had (in a row) to catch (D) Gukesh in the tournament lead. I took confidence from that. This year I believe in myself; I can win tournaments. Only when you win the first tournament, you can actually show yourself that you can do it. Given how strong many Indians are, tournament organisers have to make tough calls to leave out someone. Last year, Arjun was not getting invitations. This year, we didn't see you at Norway Chess. Was this title your way of proving to the world that you're among the best? Praggnanandhaa: I don't think I'm trying to prove anything to anyone. I just like playing chess and I want to be the best at what I'm doing. You spoke about the mental aspect. But there is also a physical aspect to playing the sport, especially when you play so much Praggnanandhaa: I'm not able to work out as I would like to because of back-to-back tournaments. During the UzChess Cup, I could feel that I was not at my usual energy level, as early as round two. I was trying to save my energy by doing less prep. That helped me. That's one of the reasons why I lost two games in the middle. At some point I just couldn't play. I was completely dead at some point. Just wanted to rest. But you don't get that (luxury) in the middle of the tournament, so you keep fighting. So what does the rest of your year look like and how do you manage the finances? Praggnanandhaa: I'll be playing in Zagreb in four days. Then I'll play in Freestyle Las Vegas, then Last Chance Qualifiers for the Esports World Cup, Grand Chess Tour tournaments, mainly Sinquefield Cup. There'll also be the Grand Swiss and FIDE World Cup. It'll be a tightly-packed schedule. Thanks to the Adani Group, I've been able to manage everything, especially last year, when there was a Candidates tournament, which required a whole team and in-person camps. These things need massive financial support. Another thing is that they were always there for me during my lows, offering support. How would you compare your approach in 2024 and 2025 seasons? Praggnanandhaa: This year we did small experiments. Trying to play fast in a few games and then trying to play normally. Or trying to do more prep before games and then less prep. We did try these things to see which ones actually suited me. READ MORE | RB Ramesh explains Praggnanandhaa's 2025 success: Playing 'risky' chess, more variety of openings and more In four tournaments this year, you have fought your way through tiebreaks, winning three of them. How easy is it for you to make that adjustment at the last moment when you are playing classical, and then have to switch to a faster time control hours later? Praggnanandhaa: First of all, I don't want to win tournaments on tiebreaks. I want to win straight up. But it is so happening that I had to play three tiebreaks to win the tournaments. It is challenging to change your mindset, it is challenging to play immediately after you have just played a classical game. But you know, when you are at the board, you just have to give your best. I just realised that in all three cases, I did a different result in the final classical game. In Wijk aan Zee, I lost my last classical game and then played a tiebreak. In Bucharest, I made a draw and then a tiebreak. Here in UzChess, I won and played a tiebreak. So there were three different emotions coming into the tiebreak. At the end of the day, it's just about being calm. After Norway Chess, we heard comments from Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana that they didn't think the young generation was ready to take over yet. Caruana even said that playing against you guys was not 'scary' yet. What do you feel about that? Praggnanandhaa: When people say 'take over', it's not clear what exactly it means. Because Gukesh is the world champion. If you see, I just won three tournaments, Vincent Keymer won the Freestyle Chess event in Weissenhaus in brilliant style. Arjun crossed 2800 rating. Nodirbek (Abdusattorov) was also close in a lot of tournaments. So we have won some important tournaments where others were playing, but that doesn't mean that we are better than them. They're also very strong. I don't see them (Carlsen, Nakamura and Caruana) as players from a different generation. When I play them, I just see them as another player who's very strong. I'm not sure we should really compare generations. They are really good, Magnus has dominated everything. Fabi also is like the third highest rated player (in history). What they say, I think is true to some extent, because I don't think we are better than them. If you see as a generation, we do give equal fight and we are fighting on equal terms. But I think we are also improving. It could change in some time. When you play them, has your mindset also kind of changed? Let's say you're facing Magnus tomorrow, do you approach the game slightly differently? Praggnanandhaa: No, I don't think so. I see every player as the same. I try to prepare in a way that would suit me when I'm playing them. I think that's what everyone does. Playing Magnus is a bit more special because he's clearly the strongest player now. But if I play let's say Fabi or Arjun, I don't think it would matter. Like for me, I'm playing another strong player and I just want to give my best. In terms of my prep, let's say like one or two years back, I would still do the same (as I prepare now to face these strong players). But compared to two years back, I know I can beat these players because I've done it. So that gives me confidence. But how I approach the game still remains the same. READ MORE | Four tiebreaks, three titles: Story of Praggnanandhaa's barnstorming 2025 Do you see the senior players taking fewer risks than they were when playing you two years ago? Praggnanandhaa: Yeah, I think we have got that respect now that we are strong. We are also strong players and we can play on equal terms. For sure, they don't take massive risks as earlier but still Magnus is an exception. He does take a lot of risks against anyone. So it doesn't matter. There was this joke about Indian chess that the toughest position in chess to hang on to is India number one. What do you have to say about that since you are India number one? Praggnanandhaa: This India number one can change every game. I don't think it matters who's India number one right now. I don't think it really matters. For me more than being India number one, it's about winning this tournament that makes me happier. Of course, rating does matter. What are the chances that when the next World Championship happens, we see an Indian player competing against Gukesh? Praggnanandhaa: I'm hoping for it. I'm trying to give my best. There are a lot of strong players. You have to keep giving your best and see how it goes. We also have Arjun and Aravindh at the top. So we have good chances. Amit Kamath is Assistant Editor at The Indian Express and is based in Mumbai. ... Read More
News18
2 hours ago
- News18
ABD Criticises India For Bumrah's Workload 'Mismanagement', Cites Steyn Example
Last Updated: AB de Villiers believes Jasprit Bumrah should have played all five Tests in the series against England, comparing his workload management to Dale Steyn. Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler in the world and arguably Inida's best cricketer for India across all formats. Managing his workload, though, has proved to be a significant challenge for the Indian men's cricket team. As India look to come back in the five-Test series against England for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, former South African captain and Indian Premier League (IPL) legend AB de Villiers feels that Bumrah should have been prioritised to play in all five matches, rather than the pre-planned three set by the Indian management. 'He is probably the top bowler in the world in all formats right now. So, it's very difficult to decide a way to rest him," De Villiers was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel. 'In my opinion, Test cricket is the ultimate form of the game. This Test series, in particular, would've been the one to get him ready for all five matches." The 40-year-old, who faced Bumrah towards the end of his career, compared the situation to how South Africa managed Dale Steyn, a bowler with a similar pedigree and injury history. 'That's what we used to do with Dale. Rest him in less important T20 and ODI series and prepare him for the big Test series against Australia, England, and India away from home… New Zealand to some extent, depending on the rankings at that time," he explained. Is Bumrah's Workload Being Mismanaged? Jasprit Bumrah 's potential absence in India's second Test against England at Edgbaston has sparked debate, especially given the importance of the series and the conditions that favour his skills. While De Villiers was uncertain about the nature of the decision, he did not rule out the possibility that it stemmed from medical advice. 'So, I don't know if it was mismanagement or if it was because he recently returned from injury and saw the IPL as a warmup phase," he said. 'Maybe, he consulted a surgeon who advised him against playing all five Test matches. You have to respect that, and ultimately, it's up to Team India to manage him well," he added. De Villiers added a sharp observation, saying: 'It doesn't get bigger than this, except perhaps the WTC final." First Published:
