Keeping in sync with the BCCI’s workload management policy, India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has been rested from the fourth cricket Test against England in Ranchi, starting Friday, just four days after the end of the third Test.
Bumrah has bowled 80.5 overs in the first three Tests, snapping up 17 wickets at an average of 13.65. The 30-year-old Bumrah turned the Vizag Test in India’s favour with nine wickets, including a brilliant six-wicket haul in the first essay during an eventual 106-run win to help India draw level in the series.
With an IPL season coming up followed closely by the 2024 T20 World Cup beginning on June 1, the call to rest the premier pacer comes after his new-ball partner Mohammed Siraj was given a break from the second Test in Vizag. There was speculation that Bumrah was going to be rested for the third Test in Rajkot but, with the series level at 1-1, he eventually played the fixture.
India will now head into the penultimate Test with a 2-1 lead in the five-match gig after recording a thumping 434-run win at Rajkot.
In Bumrah’s absence, the Bengal duo of Akash Deep and Mukesh Kumar are in the race to partner Siraj, who’ll lead the pace attack.
The 27-year-old Akash, who was picked in the squad for the last three Tests, was impressive in his two red-ball outings for India A against the touring England Lions, finishing with 10 wickets. With 104 FC wickets in his kitty, the pacer could be in line for a Test debut should India opt for a two-pacer attack in Ranchi.
Meanwhile, Mukesh, who was released from the squad for the third Test in Rajkot, has joined the squad in Ranchi. He played the Ranji Trophy match for Bengal against Bihar after being released, where he picked up a career-best match haul of 10 for 50 to spearhead Bengal’s massive win.
Mukesh had played the second Test against England when Siraj was rested but bowled only 12 overs in Vishakapatnam for figures of 1 for 70.
KL Rahul to miss 4th Test
Star batter KL Rahul, who missed the second and third Tests, is set to miss the fourth Test as well, while his participation in the final Test in Dharamsala is subject to fitness.
Rahul had made scores of 86 and 22 during the defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad – the highest aggregate for India in the match before missing the second Test with a quadriceps injury. He was included in the squad for the third Test subject to fitness, but was eventually ruled out with a sore knee.
India squad for fourth Test: Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.