ENG vs IND: "Hard to believe.." Ravi Shastri slams Gautam Gambhir & Shubman Gill for resting Jasprit Bumrah in 2nd test

Ravi Shastri feels Jasprit Bumrah should’ve been picked in India playing XI for the second test.

Cricketer-turned-commentator Ravi Shastri was surprised by India’s decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah for the second test of the ongoing five-match test series. England Cricket Team and India Cricket Team are locking horns in the second test at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

During the toss, India skipper Shubman Gill revealed that Bumrah has been rested for the encounter to manage his workload. He also added that Bumrah will be back for the next game at the Lord’s. Notably, the right-arm pacer picked a five-wicket haul in the first innings of the first test in Leeds.

Pacer Akash Deep replaced Bumrah in their playing XI for the second test. The visitors also dropped Shardul Thakur and Sai Sudharsan to include Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy in the playing XI.

Ravi Shastri slams Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill for resting Jasprit Bumrah in second test

However, the decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah from the game didn’t sit well with the former Indian coach Ravi Shastri. Speaking on Sky Sports, Shastri slammed current Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill for the decision. According to him, the Edbaston test is a very important game for India and Bumrah should’ve been part of the match.

“This is a very important match, they’ve had a week off. I’m little surprised Bumrah is not playing this game. It should be taken out of the player’s hand. It should be the captain and the coaching staff that should decide who should be playing the 11. This is an important game in the context of the series, he should be playing this game more than anything else,” he said.

Shastri also added that it is hard to believe Bumrah has been rested despite a gap of a week after the opening test at Headingley.

“You’ve lost three against New Zealand, you’ve lost three against Australia. You’ve lost the first Test match here and you want to get back to winning ways. You have the best fast bowler in the side, in the world, and you make him sit out after seven days of rest, it’s something very hard to believe,” he further said.

“Lord’s can come later. This is the important game where you got to counter punch almost straightaway. Play this one. Make it 1-1 and then give him the option: you want to rest at Lord’s, rest at Lord’s. You think he’ll rest at Lord’s? No chance if you win this. If you look at the run, India has had, this becomes a very, very important test match,” Shastri added.

Notably, Indian selectors and coach Gambhir revealed ahead of the England tour that Bumrah will only feature in three out of five tests during the tour to manage his workload. Bumrah bagged crucial breakthroughs for India in the first test. However, other Indian bowlers failed to support him.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna, who were part of the first test, have been retained in India playing XI for the Edgbaston test. England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bowl first in the match. In the first session, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a half-century for India. However, the visitors lost KL Rahul and Karun Nair cheaply.

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