Don't Play Bumrah in Leeds: Team India Advised to Rest Star Pacer in 1st Test

India’s five-match Test series against England begins on Friday (June 20) in Leeds. Led by a young skipper Shubman Gill, the visitors would be looking to win their first red-ball series on English soil since 2007.

Whether the visitors manage to achieve their objective or falter would depend heavily on Jasprit Bumrah’s performance on the tour. Widely regarded as the world’s best fast bowler, Bumrah is expected to lead India’s pace battery and play a crucial role in fulfilling their goal.

There are no question marks over Bumrah’s quality but his fitness has been a huge cause of concern for the team management so much so that chief selector Ajit Agarkar made it clear that he doesn’t see the star pacer playing all five Tests.

India’s 18-member squad for England tour has extra pacers to cover up for Bumrah’s unavailability. However, none of them is in Bumrah’s league.

That said, the team management, despite knowing that Bumrah’s absence will weaken India’s pace attack, has no option but to go without him in a few matches.

The 31-year-old is expected to feature in at least three Tests on the tour and different experts have different opinions as to which matches he should participate in. While Ganguly feels it’s important for Bumrah to play the last two Tests of the series at all cost, former Australian spinner Brad Hogg wants Team India to rest their star pacer in Leeds.

“You've got to be very strategic with those three Test matches. Where are you going to get the most benefit out of him? Because he can turn the game, he can turn the series on its head. So you want to make sure that you play him at Lord's, definitely, and probably Warwickshire,” Hogg told RevSportz.

“And I don't know where you'd play him in the other three Test matches, but you want to make sure you play him in those crucial games. I probably wouldn't even play him in the first Test match, actually.

“I'd just go, 'Right, England, we don't have Bumrah.' And you could just see England thinking, 'Oh, they don't have Bumrah – that's good, we don't have to face him.' But then they're going to start worrying about him in the second Test match. And if he turns the tide in the second match, then all of a sudden, England are playing catch-up. So I'd add a bit of by-play there,” he added.