Gambhir unsure on the three tests Bumrah will play with the head coach haven’t taken a call about the same as yet.
Gautam Gambhir unsure about the three tests Bumrah will participate in, with the management undecided as of now.
Although India has not yet determined which Test matches Jasprit Bumrah will play in the forthcoming five-match series in England, coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill were certain that their pace attack’s depth will compensate for his probable absence.
As part of his workload management, medical staff had recommended Bumrah not to risk playing many straight Test matches, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said when he announced India’s Test squad last month. The precaution was taken when Bumrah only made a comeback during the Mumbai Indians’ first four IPL 2025 matches after suffering a stress reaction in his back during the fifth Test match against Australia in Sydney in January.
“We haven’t taken that call, which three games is he going to play,” Gambhir said during India’s pre-departure press conference in Mumbai. “We are going to have a discussion with him and depending on the series as well. A lot will depend on the results of the series, where the series is heading. That is something which I am sure he is very well aware of as well and that is important.”
“I think we have picked enough bowlers and we have enough pace battery and a lot of fast bowlers are in a great space to be able to win us Test matches from any situation or any position,” Gill said. “Obviously when you have someone like Jasprit Bumrah, depending on how many matches he would play, whenever he would come back and play the match for us, it would be a great sight for us. But I think we have a great mix of bowlers and a great set of bowlers who can get the job for the team done.
Gambhir said: “I have said it before during the Champions Trophy [which Bumrah missed and India won] as well, it will give someone the opportunity to put his hand up and we have got enough talent there. I know that he is quality but we have got enough quality apart from him as well in the squad.”
India’s first five Test matches in the 2025–2027 World Test Championship cycle will be against England. The Test matches are played at Headingley (starting on June 20), Edgbaston (starting on July 2), Lord’s (starting on July 10), Old Trafford (starting on July 23), and The Oval (starting on July 31).
Between June 13 and 16, they play India A for four days at Beckenham, which is outside of London, to start the tour.