London: Former wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik expects India to utilise pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s limited availability for the first, second and fourth Tests in England, considering the gap between those contests offers enough break for his body to recover.
He missed India’s victory campaign in the Champions Trophy and returned to action for the Mumbai Indians in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL). During the pre-departure press conference, head coach Gautam Gambhir confirmed that they have yet to take a call on which Tests India will field Bumrah in the playing XI.
India will enjoy more than a week’s gap between those Tests, allowing Bumrah enough break to regain his fitness before spearheading the pace attack with the Dukes in his hand.
“When you go to the fourth Test, if you are 2-1 behind or 1-2 ahead, whatever it could be, I wouldn’t be surprised if the fifth Test becomes a bit of a request to him, saying, please, can you think about it,” he added.
In his previous assignments in England, he boasted 37 scalps in nine appearances at 26.27 while maintaining an economy of 2.72 and striking at 57.8.
India Squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC, WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Kl Rahul. Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwan, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj. Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
