ENG vs IND 2018: Jasprit Bumrah Likely To Miss First Three Tests Against England
Table of Contents
India is looking set to miss the services of their ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah for quite some time now. According to ESPNcricinfo, he is likely to miss the first part of the five-match England Test series.
Bumrah had picked up the injury during India’s first game on the tour of England and Ireland: the T20 against Ireland in Malahide on June 27. It seemed that he would get fit in time for the recently-concluded ODI series against England. However, the recovery is taking longer than expected. Deepak Chahar had replaced him in the T20I against England while Shardul Thakur had taken his spot in the ODI team.
ESPNcricnfo further stated that Bumrah has still not recovered from the thumb injury. The report further claimed that Bumrah is unlikely to find a place in the squad when the BCCI announce it on Wednesday (July 18). Instead, the selectors have opted to include Kuldeep Yadav, who made such an impact in the T20 and ODIs against England, and wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant.
Fast-bowler Mohammed Shami is also more than likely to make it to the squad. The pacer lost his place in the Test squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan after he failed to clear the yo-yo test. However, he cleared it later and is now eligible for selection.
With Bumrah unlikely to play the first three games, India pace-bowling department is likely to have Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. Allrounder Hardik Pandya is also included among the seam-bowling options.
As far as the spin department is concerned, Kuldeep will be part of a three-man pack. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are the other two bowlers.
Talking about Pant, the young wicketkeeper is set to get his maiden Test call up because Wriddhiman Saha is still recovering from a thumb injury. Dinesh Karthik is the first-choice wicketkeeper while Pant will be the backup. The southpaw has played for T20Is so far. He is currently in the UK playing for the India A. The hard-hitting batsman has hit three fifties on the tour so far including the match-winning 67* against West Indies A.
The report also claimed that limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma is unlikely to get a place in the Test team.. The right-handed batsman scored two centuries in the limited-overs leg of the England series. However, a poor performance in South Africa earlier this year has cost him his place.
