Despite Leeds Drubing “there is no change in plans for Jasprit Bumrah”

India cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir has confirmed that the team has no plans to allow Jasprit Bumrah to play all five Tests against England. His remarks came after India were handed a 5-wicket thrashing at the hands of Ben Stokes and co. in what was a winnable ENG vs IND 1st Test in Leeds. India’s performance with the ball, especially in the 1st innings, was similar to what happened in Australia – the overdependence on Bumrah to take wickets.

Bumrah’s won’t play all five Tests

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Gambhir informed that there will be no change of plans for Bumrah. He stressed that it was important for India to manage the pacer’s workload effectively, given their fixtures in the future. Gambhir said that it was already decided that Bumrah will play only three Tests.

 “No, we won’t change the plans. I think for us to manage his workload is more important because there’s a lot of cricket going forward and we know what he brings on the table as well. Before he came on the show, it was already decided that he’s going to play three Test matches,” Gambhir informed.

Ahead of the five-match Test series, Bumrah himself had confirmed that he won’t be playing all the matches. His decision came after he picked up a back injury in the series against Australia that forced him to be on the sidelines for nearly four months.

“But let’s see how his body turns out. We haven’t decided which two other Test matches he’s going to play. [Even without Bumrah] We attack completely bowling [to compete]We believe them. We trust them“He said.

While the rest of the bowlers struggled to take wickets in the 1st innings at Headingley, Bumrah finished with his 14th five-wicket haul, playing the role of a lone warrior for India. He could easily finished with at least 8 wickets to his name had catches not been dropped off his bowling by Jaiswal and Jadeja.

He finished with figures 5/83 off 24.4 overs in the 1st innings followed by 0/57 off 19 overs in the 2nd.