India's omission of Bumrah causes widespread bafflement

Kuwait Times

4 days ago

England's Stokes makes Jaiswal breakthrough in second Test
BIRMINGHAM: As India went into the second test against England on Wednesday without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, former players and coaches questioned the thinking behind resting the world's best bowler when they trail 1-0 in the series. Bumrah took five wickets in the opening game at Headingley as England struggled to handle his pace and movement but the 31-year-old was rested with an eye on the third test at Lord's starting four days after the match at Edgbaston.
Bumrah has been trying to manage his workload due to back problems, the primary reason why he did not want to be considered for the test captaincy, while coach Gautam Gambhir said he would play only three out of the five tests. 'This is an important match for us but the third match at Lord's — there may be something more in the wicket and we thought we'll play him (Bumrah) there,' India captain Shubman Gill said at the toss where England put India in to bat.
But dropping Bumrah, who is ranked number one among test bowlers, left former India coach Ravi Shastri fuming. 'If you look at the run India has had, this becomes a very, very important test match,' Shastri said on Sky Sports. 'You've lost three (in a row) against New Zealand, you've lost three against Australia, you've lost the first test match here, and you want to get back to winning ways. 'You have the best fast bowler in the world and you make him sit out after seven days of rest? It's something very hard to believe.'
Former Australian cricketer and coach Tom Moody said the decision to rest Bumrah was 'baffling' and that picking several all-rounders to add batting depth after the tail collapsed in Headingley could backfire. India dropped Sai Sudharsan and Shardul Thakur from the lineup, with Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar and Akash Deep coming in. 'No Bumrah is one thing, but to only have five specialist batsmen is a gamble,' Moody said on X. 'The fixation on all-rounders who are there to offer depth with bat and ball has never worked. Specialists are always going to offer more over a test.'
Former England skipper Nasser Hussain said India may have panicked despite playing well at Headingley where they scored five centuries but were let down by poor catching. 'At times, Bumrah was unplayable. It was the catching and the collapses. They were the two areas of concern,' he said. 'And the collapses, they've tried to put right by having batting depth without actually improving their bowling.'
Ben Stokes (left) celebrates with England's Zak Crawley after taking the wicket of India's Yashasvi Jaiswal for 87 runs on the opening day of the second cricket test match between England and India.
India 182-3 at tea
India reached 182-3 at tea after opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal fell short of what would have been his second century of the series. Resuming on 98-2 after lunch after being put in to bat, Jaiswal and skipper Shubman Gill steadily built a partnership before England skipper Ben Stokes made the breakthrough.
Gill had taken the majority of the strike in the second session and when Jaiswal was on 87, he sliced at a wide delivery from Stokes and was caught behind by an ecstatic Jamie Smith. As Stokes wheeled away in celebration, Jaiswal, who had scored a century in the first innings of the opening test, looked on forlornly at the celebrations before he trudged back to the pavilion. That brought Rishabh Pant to the crease, however, and the wicketkeeper-batter, who smashed two centuries in the first test, launched spinner Shoaib Bashir over the deep midwicket boundary for the first six of the match. Pant (14 not out) and Gill (42 not out) were at the crease at tea.
Earlier, India lost opener KL Rahul cheaply while Karun Nair, who was promoted up the order, fell for 31 just before lunch after playing some exquisite drives as he shared an 80-run partnership with Jaiswal. India survived two lbw reviews in the first session but Chris Woakes struck in his opening spell when Rahul looked to defend a rising delivery, only to deflect the ball onto the base of his off stump and depart for two. Nair, meanwhile, looked set to lay the foundation for India's innings but was surprised by a short ball, nicking Brydon Carse straight to second slip where Harry Brook took a simple catch.
Jaiswal saw off the new ball early on in cloudy conditions but once the lush green outfield was bathed in sunshine, he got into his groove and scored at nearly a run a ball. Josh Tongue was on the receiving end of some cracking shots off Jaiswal's blade as the opener smashed two boundaries, leaping off his feet to cut a delivery over point and bring up his fifty. —Reuters