Cricket: “Three is what I can manage at the moment” - Jasprit Bumrah admits he will not play all five Tests against England
Bumrah aiming for three of five Tests
Indian paceman and one of the best fast bowlers in the world, Jasprit Bumrah, has revealed that he only expects to feature in three of his team’s five-match series. The first Test gets underway on Friday, and India are the outsiders in the contest according to the best online betting sites.
The 31-year-old suffered a back injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in January, which forced him to withdraw from the squad for India’s triumph at the ICC Champions Trophy and miss the first few matches of the Indian Premier League for the Mumbai Indians.
Bumrah will now make his return to the longest format of the game, but as was the case during the IPL, he will be forced to manage his workload in order to avoid reaggravating his injury and potentially spending even more time on the sidelines. Speaking to the English media, he said:
“The body is feeling good, no issues, no complaints. I have to be smart as well as I am not becoming younger by the day. I have to take care of my body as I would love to play for longer and contribute in all three formats. I plan on the go but three test matches is what I am looking at, what I can manage at this moment.”
The Indian paceman went on to confirm that he is definitely expecting to feature in the opening match as India look to record their first series win in England since 2007. He has 60 wickets at an average of 22.16 in 14 Test matches against England.
Bumrah further revealed that due to his inability to feature in all five matches over the next seven weeks, he opted to forego consideration to captain the team as he did Down Under. Shubman Gill is now set to lead the Men in Blue into battle for the first time.
Eng-Ind squads for upcoming Test series
While India has yet to officially announce their starting lineup for the first Test, Bumrah and Gill, along with the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and stalwart Ravindra Jadeja, are all expected to take the field on Friday.
Karun Nair is in line to return to the national squad for the first time since 2017, while final selection decisions will need to be made around who will share the new ball with Bumrah between Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj.
England, on the other hand, announced their playing 11 for the first Test on Thursday, with the biggest talking point being around the exclusion of Jacob Bethell, who scored three consecutive fifties against New Zealand last year.
The Three Lions have opted for just one specialist spinner in Shoaib Bashir, while the three pacers include Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue. Jofra Archer and Mark Wood are both ruled out due to injury.
India squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
England squad: Ben Stokes (C), Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
