As India fell to a narrow 31-run defeat in the first Test against England, they must have wondered what could have been had they had the services of pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
While Ishant Sharma was excellent with the ball for the visitors, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav and even Hardik Pandya were guilty of giving too many freebies as they failed to find a consistent line and length.
Bhuvneshwar is already ruled out of the first three Tests but India would have secretly hoped that Bumrah recovers from his thumb injury in time for the second Test at Lord’s.
The latter has been out of action ever since he fractured his thumb in the second T20 against Ireland in Dublin. The Mumbai-born man had started his road to recovery as he remains with the Test team.
Bumrah was recently seen doing some throw-downs in the team’s net sessions raising hopes that he could be fit in time for the Lord’s Test which gets underway on August 9.
Bumrah had stepped up his recovery by resuming light bowling in the nets.
When naming the squad for the first three Tests of the five-match series, the BCCI had announced: “Jasprit Bumrah who has been included in the squad, will be available for selection from the 2nd Test onwards based on his fitness.”
However, it looks like the 24-year-old will be unavailable for the second Test.
According to a report by Cricketnext, sources close to the team are pessimistic about Bumrah’s chances of playing at Lord’s.
If that does turn out to be the case, India could be forced to field the same pace attack as Edgbaston with the inexperienced Shardul Thakur being their only option on the bench currently.