Dinesh Karthik, a former India wicketkeeper-batter, believes Jasprit Bumrah will not want to play the second Test against England at Birmingham, Edgbaston, because he has already bowled a large number of overs in the Leeds Test. However, after losing the series opener, the ace pacer and the Indian squad have been forced to make a hard decision.
Karthik believes the veteran pacer would prefer to play on a level field at Edgbaston and instead wait for the Lord’s Test, which begins on 10 July, giving him more than two weeks to relax and recoup for the crucial five-match series.
“First and foremost, we must determine whether or not Bumrah is playing. Bumrah probably wouldn’t want to play at Edgbaston. I would assume he would wait. It’s flat and will give his body more time; he’s bowled a lot of overs in this game. He’ll benefit from additional rest. I believe he would enjoy playing at Lord’s, but it is not just about what he wants, but also what the team believes he needs to do,” Karthik said.
Dinesh Karthik believes India should not play more than one spinner.
The first Test showed that India is highly reliant on Bumrah to fire on all cylinders, while Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Shardul Thakur failed to put pressure on the English hitters. Krishna got five wickets in the Test, but gave runs at a rate of more than 6.00 in both innings. Siraj was unlucky in having catches dropped off his bowling. He wasn’t at his best, though. Meanwhile, Thakur only bowled six overs in the first innings and ten in the second, taking a handful of wickets against the run of play.
Jasprit Bumrah ,on the other hand, took five wickets in the first innings and was India’s most economical bowler in the second, despite going wicketless.
“Everything about England suggests that you do not need to play more than one spinner. If you play two spinners, your batting will suffer significantly. They must be certain of one thing: they cannot anticipate what England will do. What England is doing is very straightforward; they have chosen an ordinary bowling attack and are saying, “Give us whatever you want to chase, and we will back ourselves to do it,” the cricketer-turned-commentator remarked.
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