One face that has been haunting England was absent as Team India arrived in Ranchi. The Indian Express has reported that the selectors and team management have decided to give star pacer Jasprit Bumrah a break to manage his workload, thus the hosts will not have him on the field for the fourth Test. India’s think tank is debating Bumrah’s replacement in the starting XI after he is ruled out of the Test.
The selectors had advised the team management at the previous meeting of the selection committee that Bumrah needed to take a break in order to prepare for what lay ahead.
The pacer was eager to play all five Tests, but the team management and selectors advised him to skip the Ranchi Test because he would be needed in the final match in Dharamsala, according to The Indian Express. The pacer also has big assignments coming up, like the T20 World Cup and the Indian Premier League.
In the three Tests so far, more than the spinners, it is Bumrah who has had England in all sorts of trouble with his lethal reverse-swing. Though the workload management system hasn’t raised any red flags as yet, given his history of back issues, it was inevitable that India would have to play a Test without him.
And now that India are entering the territory, the big question is who comes in place of Bumrah. Now, a lot would depend on the circumstances India faces in Ranchi. For the first time in this series, India is debating whether to use a turner after opting to play on conventional slow wickets, which have a tendency to start flat and get worse as the Test goes on.
In that scenario, India might bench Bumrah in favor of Washington Sundar or Axar Patel to bolster the batting. Ranchi has black soil pitches, just like the previous locations in the series.
Additionally, it is acknowledged that pitch preparation has proceeded in a similar manner to that of Hyderabad, Vizag, and Rajkot thus far. If India would rather have a turner, however, the ground crew just needs to water the areas that need it or cease watering them completely.
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