Bumrah released from India’s Test squad

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s tour of England officially concluded on Friday after the BCCI released him from the India squad ahead of the start of Day 2 of the ongoing fifth and final Test at The Oval.

“Jasprit Bumrah has been released from India’s squad for the fifth Test of the series against England. The fifth and final Test of the series is underway at Kennington Oval, London,” the BCCI statement said.

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Bumrah, who was set to feature in only three of the five-Test series, has already finished his quota, and was accordingly rested for the final game, despite pace-friendly conditions at the Oval, and with India desperately needing a win to square the series 2-2.

Despite that, Bumrah, who featured in the first, third, and fourth Tests, was rested for the crucial final Test at the Oval, with the team management reiterating about his workload management.

On Thursday, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate defended the team management’s decision to stick to their original plan of playing their key quick in just three matches by suggesting the long-term future of the No.1 ranked Test bowler was more important than any single Test match.

“It’s quite a complex issue around Bumrah. We obviously want to wheel him in, but we also want to respect where his body’s at, and on the basis of that, we just felt that it wasn’t worth including him in the squad,” Doeschate told reporters after the first day’s play at Oval.

“He has bowled a large number of overs, I know it doesn’t always seem like that because he’s only played three Tests and he only bowled in one innings in Manchester.

“But if you look at the loads, he’s bowled a lot of overs, and like he did say coming into the tour, he was going to be available for three games, and we just felt it was right to honour that call,” the Dutchman added.

The sight of seam-friendly conditions at The Oval would have made the decision even tougher to leave Bumrah out and ten Doeschate said there was no exact science to consider when choosing which matches the fast bowler would sit out across the five-game series.

“Every time I’ve answered this question I’ve spoken about like putting the pieces of the puzzles together and guys were baffled when we didn’t play him in the third Test, and our thinking yeah was that The Oval, yes it’s got bounce but it’s normally a fairly good wicket for batting on, and we thought we’d roll the dice and if we’d won the toss we would have bowled,” he said.

“In hindsight you would have loved to have him here, but you would also have said if we come here 3-1 down that we didn’t use him there, so it’s trying to not guess but trying to look into the future and then see how we can manage him, and maybe England have got it spot on leaving the best bowling wicket for the last Test after he’s played three,” Doeschate suggested.

India’s lone victory in the series came in the contest in which the premier pacer did not feature in the playing XI. Bumrah returned with 14 wickets from his three appearances, and his best figures came in the Lord’s Test, where he registered the figures of 5/74 in the first innings. However, despite his presence, India went on to lose the match and trail 1-2.

Bumrah had also returned with a five-wicket haul in the first innings of the series opener at Headingley. However, in Manchester, Bumrah’s pace dropped rapidly as he delivered 33 overs in the 130-135kmph range, but still managed to choke the flow of runs.

While India is unlikely to play a long five-Test series in the next two years, multiple reports suggest that the BCCI could revisit its strategy regarding Bumrah. After the first Test at Leeds, head coach Gautam Gambhir was firm on sticking to the original plan, and the team walked the talk throughout the tour despite the series on the line coming to the Oval.

However, as the lead right-arm quick’s pick and choose policy of Tests during a long tour could become challenging for the team management, there are high chances that the national selectors might come up with a different approach to ensure they have a full-strength side at their disposal during such long tours.