London: Ever since chief selector Ajit Agarkar said Jasprit Bumrah was unlikely to play all five Tests against England while announcing the Indian squad six weeks ago, there has been speculation over the team’s plans vis-à-vis its most precious and potent bowling weapon.
Even as the series got underway and India lost the opening Test at Leeds after dominating it for most of the match, there was no clarity from captain Shubman Gill or coach Gautam Gambhir on which games Bumrah will sit out to manage his workload.
One thing was clear: Bumrah had no injury issue. And yet, Gill announced after the toss for the second Test on Wednesday that Bumrah had been rested.
The captain’s logic didn’t convince too many cricket pundits and fans.
Gill said that the team is looking to play Bumrah in the third Test at Lord’s, where conditions are expected to be more favourable for Bumrah.
India are already trailing in the series, and if they lose the 2nd Test at Birmingham’s Edgbaston, the visiting team will go two-down, and a comeback from such a scenario will be extremely tough. So why not play Bumrah and go all out to level the series at Edgbaston?
Former India captain Ravi Shastri, now a TV commentator, found the Bumrah decision unbelievable.
“This is a very important match, they’ve had a week off. I’m little surprised Bumrah is not playing this game. It should be taken out of the player’s hand. It should be the captain and the head coach who that should decide who are to be in the playing 11. This is an important game in the context of the series, he (Bumrah) should be playing this game more than anything else. Lord’s can come later. This is the important game where you have to counter-punch almost straightaway,” Shastri said during commentary.
“Play this one. Make it 1-1 and then give him the option: you want to rest at Lord’s, rest at Lord’s. You think he’ll rest at Lord’s? No chance if you win this. If you look at the run India has had, this becomes a very, very important Test match. You’ve lost three 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,” Shastri added.
Another commentator, Michael Atherton, was just as stunned by Team India’s choice of playing Akashdeep in place of Bumrah.
“Yes, the big news of the morning, not just the toss and (Ben) Stokes’ decision again to bowl first, but the fact that India have gone without Jasprit Bumrah a week in between games, a must-win game or a game that India cannot afford to lose. And despite the fact that we heard yesterday from the captain that Bumrah is available and fit to play, they haven’t picked him. It seems a very strange decision to me,” said the former England skipper.
Former Australian allrounder and coach Tom Moody said the decision to rest Bumrah was “baffling”, and that picking three allrounders (Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy and Washington Sundar) to add batting depth after the tail collapsed in Headingley could backfire.
Besides Bumrah, India dropped Sai Sudharsan and Shardul Thakur from the opening Test lineup.
Retired India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said on the eve of the game that Bumrah should play the second Test if he’s willing.
“By all means, as a coach or anybody, I would also always want Bumrah to play. Because Bumrah’s factor in the game is very big. And especially, we are 1-0 behind in a series… I would rather say, we have got a 10-day bonus. So he can be ready for this game. So, let’s just say, if he plays this game and it becomes 1-1. You have a chance to rest him in the 3rd or 4th test. And you can bring him back. But if this Test match also goes wrong, you can always rest him and just play him in the 4th Test,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Fans expressed their disappointment on social media, describing the team’s decision as ‘stupid’, ‘mind boggling’, ‘crazy’, etc.
