In what can be termed as a major impediment for the Indian side, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah might not be fit in time to take part in the second Test match which commences on August 9 at Lord's.
According to several reports, the pacer needs more time to attain 100 per cent fitness and as such the management would not want him to risk him at Lord's.
Bumrah injured his thumb in the first T20I against Ireland while trying to take a catch and was subsequently ruled out of the ODI and T20I series against England which followed. He was replaced by Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar respectively in both the formats.
Similar bowling attack to Edgbaston
He then flew back to India and underwent a surgery and despite this, he was named in the Indian Test squad which. The BCCI while announcing the team said, "Jasprit Bumrah, who has been included in the squad, will be available for selection from the 2nd Test onwards based on his fitness."
However, with his injury, Indian might well go in with the same bowling attack which picked up 20 wickets in Edgbaston. While Ishant Sharma and R Ashwin starred with the ball, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were very inconsistent. They impressed in patches, but now they need to step up and get the job done on a more consistent basis.
India are grappling with the injury to Bhuvneshwar Kumar as well, who is expected to recover by the end of the third Test. However, this new update on Bumrah will put the Indian plans in jeopardy as he would have been an ideal bowler to bowl with the slope at Lord's.
The visitors also need to put their heads together and the bowlers need to formulate a plan to get rid of the tail. Even in the first Test, they had England on the ropes at 97 for 7 but then Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, and Stuart Broad bailed the team out and India were set a target of 194 which proved just enough for them to be bundled out.
