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India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was rested for the fifth and final Test against England held at The Oval. This came after the 31-year-old had participated in three Tests in the series and had been the joint-highest wicket-taker for the Men in Blue alongside Mohammed Siraj with 14 wickets. Before the series had even began, India head coach Gayutam Gambhir had clearly stated that Bumrah will only be featuring in three out of the five Tests against England as he needs to take care of his body.
Though he had already completed his quota of matches in the serikes, many were critical of the team management for resting the 31-year-old in a match where the pitch is offering a lot of help for the seamers. India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate defended Bumrah when asked about the reasoning behind his absence, stating that the pacer isn't choosing games where he would or wouldn't play.
“I don't think picking and choosing is a fair comment to Bumrah. He did say he was going to play 3 games. He left it up to us which 3 he played. We've tried to manage the situation. It's not ideal. I think it's quite a complex issue around Bumrah, we obviously want to wheel him out, but we also want to respect where his body is at. On the basis of that, we just felt that it wasn't worth including him in the squad,” ten Doeschate said at the post-day press-conference.
“He has bowled a large number of overs. I know it doesn't always seem like that because he's only played 3 tests, and he only bowled in 1 innings in Manchester. But if you look at the loads, he's bowled a lot of overs, and like he said coming into the tour, he was going to be available for 3 games. We just felt it was the right call,” he added.
Bumrah has a great record in the series against England
Bumrah bowled a total of 119.4 overs in the three Tests that he played against England in the series. Though he did pick up two 5-wicket-hauls, the pacer wasn't able to perform well in the third Test and even ended up giving away over 100 runs in a Test innings for the first time in his career. Additionally, his pace dropped drastically in his big spell of 35 overs in the Test held at Old Trafford. Prasidh Krishna was brough back into the playing XI as Bumrah's replacement and it remains to be seen if this change will end up benefitting the visitors or not.
Meanwhile, India wrapped up the first day of the fifth Test on 204/6 with Karun Nair unbeaten on 52 and Washington Sundar batting on 19. The opening day was affected by rain quite a bit as the conditions became perfect for fast bowling. After getting restricted to 153/6 at one stage, the duo of Nair and Sundar formed a valiant stand and ensured that the Men in Blue didn't lose any more wickets in the remaining overs. It will be interesting to see how things develop on the second day at The Oval.
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