Jasprit Bumrah may not play the fifth and final Test against England at The Oval which starts on Thursday. This is going to be a key match, as the five-Test series is still open. According to reports, the Indian team is thinking about resting him.
Jasprit has played in the first, third, and fourth matches of the series. He was rested for the second Test in Edgbaston. Even before the series began, BCCI had said that he would not play all five games. Fast bowler Akash Deep may take his place in the playing eleven.
The team’s medical staff thinks this is the right time to give Bumrah a break. He has had back problems in the past. They want to manage his workload and avoid any long-term injuries. Reports say the decision is based on fitness and planning for the future. After the fourth Test, head coach Gautam Gambhir said that no decision had been made yet. He added that all bowlers, including Jasprit, were fit at the time.
In the last Test in Manchester, England scored a huge 669 runs in their first innings. India had made only 358. But the Indian team showed a lot of fight in the second innings. They were 0 for 2 at one point, but centuries from Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar, and Ravindra Jadeja helped them draw the match. The series score now stands at 2-1, with England ahead.
Jasprit bowled 33 overs in the first innings of that Test. That’s the most he has bowled in a single innings. He took 2 wickets for 103 runs, which is the first time he has given away more than 100 runs in a Test innings.
There are also signs that the bowler is getting tired. The number of fast balls he bowled (over 140kph) went down over the series — from 42.7% in the first Test to just 0.5% in the fourth. Even with this dip, Jasprit is still India’s top wicket-taker in the series, alongside Mohammed Siraj. Both have taken 14 wickets so far.
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