India national cricket team fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has revealed that he had no knowledge about spin-bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar being promoted to No. 3 in the Test playing XI.
With Jasprit Bumrah saying he was largely kept in the dark about developments within the Test team, it appears he is not part of the leadership group at the moment.
I don’t really know what the whole thought process was – Jasprit Bumrah
The first Test of the two-match series between India and South Africa began on Friday, November 14 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
For this important match, Team India made some major changes in the playing eleven as Sai Sudarshan and Nitish Kumar Reddy were dropped and replaced by Axar Patel and Dhruv Jurel.
To add to it, India made a shocking change in the batting line-up as Washington Sundar was placed at the No. 3 position after dropping Sai Sudarshan, and this left everyone shocked.
At the end of the first day’s play, Sundar was unbeaten on 6 after coming in at No. 3, and in the press conference Jasprit Bumrah was asked to address the decision, to which he replied (as quoted by Sportskeeda):
“I’m not the captain right now. I’m sure there will be some logic behind it and when those guys come, you can ask them. I don’t really know what the whole thought process was. We support all our players to do the work. But, I don’t know what the conversation was behind it.”
When we go to England, the atmosphere is different – ​​Jasprit Bumrah
Speaking to reporters after the first day’s play, South Africa’s batting coach Ashwell Prince complained about the pitch and said it had a lot of uneven bounce.
Talking about this, Jasprit Bumrah said that when the team is traveling abroad for Test matches, it has to be ready to deal with any kind of challenge. He said (as quoted by RevSportz):
“That’s the challenge of Test cricket, right? Whenever you go to different conditions, the challenge is different. We went to South Africa and five sessions in, the Test match is over (Cape Town). So, it’s never an easy answer that the wicket should be like this.”
“That’s the challenge of Test cricket. We go to England, the environment is different. We go to Australia, the challenge is different. So, we have to adapt. We as a team will not point fingers and complain about how it is. Yes, we are skilled players and that is why we are in our national team. It is our job to adapt and find ways because that is how professional cricket works.”
When I bowled the first over, everything happened – Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah also gave his information on the pitch and said that when he bowled the first over of the match, the ball was doing very well. He said:
“When the ball is hard and nice maybe the deviation is a little faster. When the ball gets softer, the deviation goes down and then your accuracy comes into play.
“When I bowled the first over, everything happened – the ball swung, it stayed low. It was a bit difficult to understand what the right length was.”
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