Jasprit Bumrah has travelled back home (Ahmedabad). The ace pacer was initially supposed to rest from the second Test (Pune) of the India vs New Zealand series, but Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma needed his services after the astounding Bengaluru loss.
Tom Latham’s team might create history by becoming the first side to whitewash India in a home Test series that had 3 or more matches. Despite knowing what’s on the line, the Indian management feels Bumrah needs to preserve his energy for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25.
Bumrah’s done his preparations: Gambhir
Having already missed out on a few years of cricket, they won’t take a risk by playing the world’s best bowler in what is a ‘dead rubber’ that holds no value for the upcoming Australia challenge. It would be a humiliation, but it wouldn’t be worse than losing Jasprit Bumrah for BGT.
Gambhir was asked whether Bumrah would play in Mumbai, and although he didn’t give a straight answer, it was enough to understand that the pacer wouldn’t participate in the final match. “I think he’s (Bumrah) just done his preparations; I think we know how the weather is in Mumbai, so obviously he needs to conserve his energy as well. So he’s done his bowling; he’s prepared really well, and he’s fine. That’s why he’s a senior player; he knows how much he needs to prepare for the Test match.” the Indian head coach said in the pre-match press conference.
India squad for 3rd New Zealand Test
Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep
