London, Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out of the second Test against England, starting on Thursday as he has not fully recovered from a left thumb injury, bowling coach Bharat Arun said on Tuesday.
Bumrah underwent surgery after fracturing his his thumb during the first T20 International against Ireland in June.
The Indian team management had initially hoped that the 24-year-old right-armer will recover in time for the Lord’s Test.
“He (Bumrah) is bowling fit right now. But it is too early to put him into a match situation. He has bandaged plaster… yet to come out of his hand. For the second Test, he is out of contention,” Arun said during a press conference.
Bharat praised the bowlers who were part of the 31-run loss in the first Test in Birmingham. He, however, said changes will be made to the bowling line-up for the next Test, depending upon the condition of the wicket.
“Bowlers did extremely well in the last game. For the next match, we will take a call after seeing the condition and the wicket. In the first Test, the bowlers made big improvement from the first to the second innings at Edgbaston. They did a good job,” he said.
Arun also defended the underperforming batsmen, saying that conditions were tough for them at Birmingham. “Batsmen on both the sides found it difficult. Only Virat Kohli and Joe Root came in contention with the moving ball. The conditions were trying. Challenge is there to adapt. We have our plans in place (ahead of the second Test),” he said.
Even though Indian batsmen have failed, barring Kohli, who scord 200 runs, Arun said that fielding six specialist batsmen does not make sense. “Playing an extra batsman will be considered a conservative move. It makes more sense to play five bowlers,” he insisted.
