In a massive relief for Indian cricket fans ahead of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in Brisbane, starting Saturday, star quick Jasprit Bumrah shrugged off any injury concerns and completed a full warm-up with his teammates on Thursday before bowling in their main training session.
Bumrah, who has been in sensational form in the ongoing series so far, battled a minor groin injury in Adelaide, raising concerns over his fitness ahead of the crucial third Test at the Gabba. However, on Thursday, the right-arm quick dispelled all doubts by bowling around 30 minutes in the nets, his first spell since the end of the Adelaide Test on Sunday.
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The 31-year-old has been India’s most potent weapon with the cherry this summer, with his performances in the series opener Perth the best of any touring quick in Australia in decades. He has taken 12 wickets at 11.25 for the series, claiming Nathan McSweeney’s scalp three times, as well as Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja twice each.
With the Border-Gavaskar Trophy currently squared at 1-1, the right-arm quick forms an important cog in the Indian team’s wheel, and to keep their aspirations of reaching a third successive ICC World Test Championship final, alive.
Bumrah is already the leading wicket-taker in 2024 in Tests with 53 scalps to his name and will be keen to add more to his tally duringthe Brisbane Test. On Thursday, the star pacer warmed up by bowling a few leg-breaks alongside Ravichandran Ashwin, before switching back to his usual self.
He bowled a handful to the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, before regular skipper Rohit Sharma joined them in the middle, indicating a return at the top of the order at the Gabba after failing to find success at No.6 in the Pink-ball Test in Adelaide.
Rohit drops hints of returning as opener in Brisbane
Battling a prolonged slump in red-ball cricket, skipper Rohit Sharma has offered hints of returning to the opening position for the third Test. Rohit, who had missed the opening Test in Perth, and batted without much success in the middle order in the second Test, spent considerable time facing the new ball at the nets on Thursday.
After completing his slip fielding drills, Sharma joined Rahul and Jaiswal to face India’s new ball bowlers. Having gone past 20 just twice in his past 12 Test innings, Sharma faced all of Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep with the new ball, something he did not do in the lead-up to the second Test in Adelaide.
While Rahul returned to bat for a second time, he also faced a newish ball alongside the likes of fellow middle-order batter Virat Kohli. Kohli, who came up with a match-winning century in the 295-run triumph in Perth, however, found it hard to negotiate balls outside the off-stick in Adelaide and has been working on his backfoot game, in anticipation of the high bounce at the Gabba.
The wicket at the Gabba is expected to have more life and bounce during the pre-Christmas window, and as such, the Indian team management could also tinker with the bowling combination for the third Test. In such a scenario, the visitors will have to take a call on whether to stick with Harshit Rana or bring in fellow quick Akash for the Gabba.
To add depth to their batting, the Indian team might also opt for the off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar in place of Ravichandran Ashwin, or bring in the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja to boost the lower-order batting.
Meanwhile, there are no signs of Mohammed Shami joining the squad ahead of the third Test, despite his impressive return to domestic cricket after returning from a nearly year-long absence with an ankle injury.
