Gambhir confirms India will stick with 3-match plan for Bumrah, backs ‘inexperienced’ quicks

LEEDS: India head coach Gautam Gambhir confirmed that the management won’t budge from the three-match utilisation of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah despite enduring a five-wicket setback in the series opener against England at Headingley.

During the announcement of India’s squad for the Test tour of England, chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed Bumrah was advised not to contest in consecutive Tests as part of his workload management. The precaution around Bumrah’s usage stems from a stress reaction in the back during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney in January.

GAUTAM GAMBHIR IN THE PC:

“We win together, we lose together”. pic.twitter.com/6wP2hMC6M5

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 25, 2025

The management decided to cash in Bumrah’s services for the opening Test, and the 31-year-old, classified as the current “world best”, notched up his 12th five-wicket haul for India away from home, tying with the legendary Kapil Dev. He played a starring role and returned with figures of 5/83 in the first innings.

Bumrah’s magic faded in the second innings as he chased the shadows of his past self. During India’s failed attempt to defend a 371-run target, Bumrah went wicketless as India succumbed to its fate and surrendered a five-wicket defeat. With India trailing 0-1 in the series, Gambhir shrugged off suggestions about deploying Bumrah in more than three Tests, stating that managing his workload is more “important.”

“No, we won’t change the plans. I think for us, managing his workload is more important because there’s a lot of cricket going forward, and we know what he brings to the table as well. So, before he came to the tour, it was already decided that he was going to play three Test matches. But let’s see how his body turns out. We haven’t decided which two other Test matches he’s going to play,” Gambhir told reporters in the post-match press conference.

In the first innings, while dropped catching opportunities brutally hurt India’s chances, the lack of support from the other end exacerbated the situation. In the second innings, when Bumrah’s charm failed, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur emerged as the two unlikely heroes with two quick wickets each, but the ship had sailed by that point.

With India bound to line up without Bumrah in two Tests in the remaining four, Gambhir remained optimistic about the pace bowling calibre present in the artillery, which includes Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Krishna and Akash Deep. “We absolutely have the bowling attack. We believe in them. We trust in them. When we pick the squad, we pick the squad on trust, not on hope. As I just mentioned, those are inexperienced bowlers, but they will keep getting better,” he said.

“And we saw in this Test match as well that for the first four and a half, four days, we were in a position, even on day five, where we could have won the Test match. So we believe, and we trust that these boys will deliver for us,” he added. (ANI)