The omission of Jasprit Bumrah from the second Test against England in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in Birmingham on Wednesday left several individuals surprised. While experts questioned the decision to leave out Bumrah despite taking a five-wicket haul, India captain Shubman Gill called it a part of workload management on the pacer.
Bumrah was never in contention to play all the five Tests, more so after his injury in Australia earlier this year, which kept him out of action for almost three months. In fact, it was BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar who confirmed that Bumrah will be playing three Tests ahead of the tour.
Former England quick Stuart Broad was one among the surprised. But what baffled Broad was Bumrah’s act of making the revealing the strategy publicly which should have stayed indoors. “A week is a very good time off for a fast bowler,” Broad said in a pre-match show.
“(Bumrah’s omission) does surprise me and what also surprised me was him saying before the series he will only play three of the five Tests. You keep those cards close to your chest and play each week as it comes. They will definitely want Bumrah at Lord’s because of the movement you can get through the air,” added Broad.
What has Jasprit Bumrah said pre-series?
Ahead of the start of the five-match series, Bumrah sat down with former India teammate Dinesh Karthik for an interview with Sky Sports. The Indian pacer stated that he had contacted the BCCI about his workload management after realising that he was being considered for leadership role.
“I called the BCCI and said I don’t want to be looked at in a leadership role because I won’t be able to give [it my] all Test matches coming a five Test-match series. So then, yes, the BCCI was looking at me at leadership. But then I had to say no,” Bumrah had said.
