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Team India's gruelling summer tour against England begins with the Headingley Test which is the first game of the five-match series. One of the key figures in India's current squad is pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who is coming off a fantastic IPL 2025 campaign with the Mumbai Indians. The 31-year-old picked up 18 scalps in 12 matches for the Mumbai-based franchise, who eventually failed to make it to the final after getting defeated by the Punjab Kings in the second qualifier.
His exceptional performance in his last Test assignment which was against Australia also cannot be ignored. The speedster was adjudged as the Player of the Series despite the Men in Blue's 3-1 defeat in the Border-Gavaskar series 2024/25. Bumrah picked up a total of 32 wickets in the five Tests and was sublime throughout the series.
Bumrah had sustained a critical injury during the Test series against Australia
But during the fifth Test in Sydney, Bumrah sustained a back injury after which he was taken to the hospital for scans. The injury saw him not being able to participate in the second innings as the Men in Blue recorded a six-wicket defeat. Following this, the India team management and head coach Gautam Gambhir decided that the star pacer will feature in only three out of the five Tests against England.
However, former England captain David Gower believes that India shouldn't hesitate to play Bumrah even if he is 75-80% fit as the seamer is too important of a player and can make a big impact whenever he takes the field.
“Jasprit Bumrah is a fantastic bowler—world-class. His fitness is crucial. If I were England, I’d prefer he doesn’t play at all!” Gower told The Times of India.
“If India need to manage his workload, they must be strategic—look at pitch conditions, the opposition, and figure out where he can make the most impact. English pitches are usually decent—not overly bowler-friendly—so someone of Bumrah’s quality can be the difference. If he’s even 75–80% fit, I’d still want him in the XI," he added.
Bumrah only playing three Tests in the series against England will definitely be a big blow for India. But it will also be a big opportunity for the other pacers in the squad to step up and become the Men in Blue's frontline bowler in the 31-year-old's absence.
England's playing XI for first Test: Ben Stokes (c), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (WK), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
India's playing XI for first Test: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
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