Bumrah forced Nitish Reddy or Krishna to exclude God from the XI?

India cricket team captain Shubman Gill confirmed on Sunday that Jasprit Bumrah will be a part of the ENG vs IND 3rd Test at Lord’s. The former India vice-captain was benched for the Test at Edgbaston where India scripted a historic win to level the series 1-1. However, Bumrah’s return means India would have to make change to their playing XI. That means, there are at least two candidates who could be benched.

Krishna or Nitesh, who will be benched at Lord’s?

Krishna has featured in both the Tests played so far. The Karnataka pacer has been quite expensive in the ongoing series, and has yielded least of the results. He became the most expensive Indian bowler in Tests in the 1st innings of ENG vs IND 2nd Test after conceding 72 runs in just 13 overs at an economy rate of 5.50.

In the 1st Test, he finished with figures of 3/128 and 2/92. In the 2nd innings of the Edgbaston Test, he managed to take just one wicket. Given that Akash Deep displayed top quality performance in the previous game and so did Siraj. Krishna could likely make way for Bumrah in the playing XI at Lord’s.

On the other hand, another player who could be benched in place of Bumrah is Nitish Kumar Reddy. After sitting out in the 1st Test, the Andhra Pradesh all-rounder made least impact in Birmingham. Included as a pure batter more than an all-rounder, Reddy a total of 2 runs in the contest, while bowling just 6 overs.

Were India to continue with the trend of keeping their batting order deep while also making way for Bumrah, an easy way would be for the team to let Washington Sundar remain in the playing XI while Nitish returns to warm the bench yet again.