The Indian team management had already made it clear that Jasprit Bumrah won’t play all the Tests against England. But no one really expected that he might skip even the first Test.
Enter Brad Hogg — former Aussie spinner and part-time cricket philosopher — who believes resting Bumrah for the opening Test might just be a genius chess move. His logic? Don’t play him in the first match, let England dream about facing him in the second. Keep them awake at night, imagining “Boom Boom” turning up in Birmingham and wrecking stumps like he owns the ground.
According to Hogg, Edgbaston and Lord’s — these two venues are where Bumrah can completely change the game. Use him there, and suddenly England go from confident to clueless. Catch-up cricket begins.
But here’s the big question — will this be a masterstroke or a misfire? Bench Bumrah and you might throw England off their rhythm... or end up messing with your own.
So, what’s the better play — surprise England and hold your trump card, or go all-in from the very first ball?
Brad Hogg's full statement:
In a chat with RevSportz, Hogg said, "You've got to be very strategic with those three Test matches. Where are you going to get the most benefit out of him? Because he can turn the game, he can turn the series on its head. So you want to make sure that you play him at Lord's, definitely, and probably Warwickshire."
"And I don't know where you'd play him in the other three Test matches, but you want to make sure you play him in those crucial games. I probably wouldn't even play him in the first Test match, actually. I'd just go, 'Right, England, we don't have Bumrah.' And you could just see England thinking, 'Oh, they don't have Bumrah – that's good, we don't have to face him.' But then they're going to start worrying about him in the second Test match. And if he turns the tide in the second match, then all of a sudden England are playing catch-up. So I'd add a bit of by-play there," Hogg added.
Team India Test squad for England
Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav
