… Held on a field during the SCG Test
INDIAN fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the fourth and final Test, starting Jan. 15 at The Gabba in Brisbane.
The accelerator suffered abdominal stress during a field during the third SCG Test and will not be able to recover in time for India’s final match on the tour.
However, the Ahmedabad native is about to reach the desired fitness levels for India’s home campaign against England which kicks off a few weeks after finishing the ongoing tour. India’s home series against the Three Lions begins on February 5.
“Jasprit Bumrah suffered abdominal stress at a field in Sydney. It is going to stand out the Brisbane Test but is expected to be available against England, ”a BCCI source was quoted in Outlook.
Bumrah not being there invariably means that either Shardul Thakur or T. Natarajan will play the final Test. Even as Shardul came in as substitute Mohammed Shami, left-armer Natarajan got his pre-test call after Umesh Yadav was ruled out of the Sydney and Brisbane Tests.
It has to be said that India’s speed attack was seriously weakened after missing out on the quartet of Shami, Umesh, Bumrah and Ishant Sharma. Due to the route of the injuries, the visitors have already given Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini their pre-marriage Test caps.
And after Bumrah’s not there, Thakur and Natarajan will have a huge task of filling the void. Saini and Siraj have been fairly impressive so far, but they will have to submit their A-game if India is to win the 2020-21 edition of the Gavaskar Border Trophy.
In the absence of all their experienced speeders, much will depend on spinner Ravi Ashwin. Going into the last Test, India have reasons to worry about them as they have yet to win a single Test at The Gabba out of six games, losing five of them.
On the other hand, the Aussies have won over 40 Tests at the venue and have numbers in their favor. However, the visitors would be highly confident especially after the resilience they showed in the third Sydney Test. (CricTracker)