The Indian team management decided to rest Jasprit Bumrah in the second Test against England in Birmingham on Wednesday. The development came in at the coin toss when captain Shubman Gill announced that Bumrah won’t be playing at Edgbaston. Pacer Akash Deep replaced Bumrah in the Indian playing XI.
With the workload management in mind, it was announced that Bumrah will be playing three Tests out five, which the pacer too acknowledged in front of the media. However, it wasn’t known which three Tests he will be a part of. Gill revealed the idea behind resting Bumrah was to manage his workload.
“No Bumrah. Just to manage his workload,” said Gill at the coin toss. “We did get a good break and this is an important match for us. But the third Test being at Lord’s, we think there’ll be more in that pitch so we’ll use him there,” added Gill, who replaced Rohit Sharma as Test captain.
With no Bumrah in the side, Akash Deep will pair up with Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj in a three-way Indian pace attack. Meanwhile, India have also rested Shardul Thakur, with Washington Sundar replacing the seaming all-rounder.
The inclusion of Sundar gives India two spin options, alongside Ravindra Jadeja. For the unknown, India are already trailing 0-1 in the five-match series after losing the first game by five wickets.
Notably, India haven’t won a single Test match at Edgbaston in their last eight attempts – drawing one and losing seven. England’s Test record aren’t good either as the hosts have lost three out of the last five Tests at this very same venue.
India vs England 2nd Test playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant(w), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir
