India coach provides update on Jasprit Bumrah availability against England: ‘We won't change it'
India coach Gautam Gambhir has revealed they will not divert from their strategy to play Jasprit Bumrah for only another two Tests, despite the rest of the bowling attack lacking a consistent cutting edge against England in the first Test.
Ben Duckett 's 149 inspired England to an improbable chase of 371 to down India in the first of the five-match series, England's second highest successful pursuit ever.
It was just seven runs off the target they reeled in against the same opponents at Edgbaston in 2022 at the outset of the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era.
'We won't change the plans,' Gambhir said. 'To manage his [Bumrah's] workload is more important. Before he came on this tour, it was already decided he would play three Tests but let's see how his body turns out.
'We haven't decided which two other Test matches he's going to play. We absolutely have the bowling attack to take 20 wickets. We pick the squad on trust, not on hope.
'We have inexperienced bowlers but they will keep getting better. On day five we were in a position to win this Test match.'
Duckett followed the likes of Ian Botham in 1981 and Stokes himself in 2019 into Headingley folklore with a titanic fourth-innings knock to underpin a five-wicket win and a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Jasprit Bumrah was wicketless and while India rallied to leave England 253 for four when Duckett and Harry Brook were out off successive balls, Joe Root's 53 not out and Jamie Smith's 44 not out got them home with 14 overs still available.
While India will lick their wounds and look to regroup at Edgbaston for the second Test, starting next Wednesday, Stokes can feel vindicated after his decision to bowl first at the toss came under scrutiny.
India racked up 359 for three in glorious batting conditions after the first day and were at one stage 430 for three – they were also 333 for four in the second innings – but England fought back both times.
'It's a good job Test cricket is played over five days,' Stokes said. 'You make a decision and you don't know what is going to happen. Both teams had a lot of luck go their way.'
England's last visit also produced another nail-biting finale, with Chris Woakes and Mark Wood bringing the 2023 Ashes alive by getting Stokes' side home in pursuit of 251 with three wickets to spare.
'We've been pretty good at this ground for the last few years,' Stokes added. 'We've got some good memories here and it's one more to add.
'Everyone knows what cricket is about, it's about scoring more runs than the opposition. When you strip it all back, that's it. We try to keep everything simple and calm as we possible can.
'When you're chasing totals like that, how you are in the dressing room is very important.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Business Daily From pro gamer to what?
Available for over a year We look at job security and long-term options for esports players after they hang up their controllers. The industry is worth billions of dollars and players win big prizes, but many make more money as content makers, and plan to move away from esports long-term. We head to an esports event in Birmingham UK to speak to professional gamers about their career prospects - and to young people who idolise these players and want to enter this field themselves. Produced and presented by Will Chalk (Image: Esports player Archie Pickthall at the 2025 RLCS Major 1 tournament in Birmingham UK. Credit: BLAST/Michal Konkol)
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Tunis 0 Chelsea 3: Liam Delap fires listless Blues into last-16 clash with Benfica at Club World Cup
LIAM DELAP faces a defining five days for Chelsea despite having only just signed. The £30 million striker scored his first goal for his new club and events elsewhere have put him in command in the battle for the centre forward spot. 5 5 5 Fifa's decision to double the ban for position rival Nicolas Jackson means Delap will also lead the line against Benfica on Saturday as the Club World Cup starts to get interesting. And in this form there is every chance Delap will have nailed it as first choice striker by the end of June and he may not look back. Delap, 22, now has a goal and an assist, albeit against abject opposition in a tournament that even without the strength-sapping weather is a drain on the legs of the players. Jackson is sitting it out and stewing on his shocking rush of blood and a decision to put his studs into the shin of an opposing player in the previous game. A rash move from which he may not look back either. While the vast majority of Chelsea fans back home in England slept, Delap was giving his new team the wake up call it has been craving for months. Looking robust yet controlled with his old-fashioned approach to the game and rolled down socks, the Blues may at last have a centre forward they can count on week in, week out. In addition to his first and Chelsea's second goal at the end of a pedestrian half of football, Delap had a bullet header cleared off the line and only a last-ditch block prevented him from scoring earlier. Channeling the aggression is what it's about in the up front role going into combat. And Jackson is losing that. He is currently banned in two separate competitions having been sent off in the Premier League at Newcastle last month for elbowing Sven Botman. In what was a largely unimpressive performance from a massively reshuffled Chelsea against a terrible side, they are at least through to the last 16, with a headed goal by Tosin getting them off the mark. The towering centre half latched onto an Enzo Fernadez free kick three minutes into first-half injury time. Even though Chelsea needed only a draw to progress, taking the lead was a huge relief for a team with eight changes from the previous game - a 3-1 defeat to Brazilians Flamengo. And Delap struck again just two minutes after Tosin to seal the win that sees Chelsea finish as Group D runners up and head to Miami this morning to set up camp before flying to Charlotte, North Carolina, to play Benfica on Saturday afternoon UK time as the knockout stage kicks in. The added good news being they avoid a date with Harry Kane and Bayern Munich for now at least. 5 5 Head coach Enzo Maresca waited until there was no chance of a comeback by the opposition before rotating his team further - taking off Fernandez to hand a debut to midfielder Andrey Santos. The Brazilian has been a Chelsea player for two and a half years, yet has been on loan at Nottingham Forest and sister club Strasbourg since. Delap came off just before the hour to warm appreciation from local fans and the longer Chelsea stay in this tournament the more comfortable he looks in Jackson's shoes. Sub Tyrique George made it 3-0 five minutes into the seven of added time with a powerful shot that the Tunis keeper could not hold.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Jack Draper, Coco Gauff and Emma Raducanu among 10 to watch at Wimbledon
Wimbledon begins on Monday with Carlos Alcaraz and Barbora Krejcikova bidding to defend the titles they won last year. Here, the PA news agency picks out 10 players to watch over the next fortnight. Coco Gauff The charismatic American heads to Wimbledon as the new French Open champion, but her grass ceiling remains the fourth round. Yet if her forehand and serve hold up, Gauff has all the weapons and athleticism to master her least favourite surface. The 21-year-old will be seeded second so there should be little danger until the latter stages of the tournament. Aryna Sabalenka The runaway world number one has yet to make a major impact at Wimbledon and had to withdraw from last year's tournament through injury. Sabalenka's ragged display in the Roland Garros final was hard to take, so the powerful Belarusian will be determined to reassert her authority at the top of the women's game by adding the SW19 title to her US and Australian Open crowns. Now back at the top of the British rankings, Raducanu is playing probably some of her best tennis since her remarkable US Open triumph in 2021 – although that bar is quite low after a turbulent few years. The 22-year-old is having to manage a back problem, but her informal coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey appears to be working. Tatjana Maria The German mother of two came from out of nowhere to be crowned the Queen of Queen's Club earlier this month. Maria went on an incredible run through qualifying before slicing four top-20 players into submission to become the oldest WTA 500 champion at the age of 37. Could bringing 1980s-style tennis back to Wimbledon land the ultimate prize? Qinwen Zheng With a huge Chinese fanbase, Olympic champion Zheng probably has a claim to be the most recognisable female player worldwide. She has also built a reputation for some frowned-upon antics, from flouting warm-up convention by hitting winners to changing her rackets and shoes during an opponent's service game, most recently against Raducanu at Queen's. Carlos Alcaraz Now on a career-best 18-match winning streak taking in Rome, the French Open and a second Queen's title on Sunday, the defending champion remains the man to beat at SW19. A five-time grand slam winner at the age of just 22, Alcaraz has reached five consecutive finals and lost just one match since April. It is hard to see anyone stopping the Spaniard over the next fortnight. Jannik Sinner The world number one from Italy has reached two finals since returning from a three-month doping ban but is probably still having nightmares about the three championship points he held against Alcaraz at Roland Garros. An aggressive baseliner with excellent movement, Sinner will certainly be a threat but question marks remain over his stamina in five-set matches. Novak Djokovic In reaching the French Open semi-finals, Djokovic proved he can still beat 98 per cent of the field in men's tennis. It is just the other two who are preventing him from landing that record 25th grand slam title. Sinner got the better of him at Roland Garros, while Alcaraz has beaten him in the last two Wimbledon finals. Aged 38, can the last of the 'big three' still standing find a way past them and land an eighth SW19 title? Jack Draper Britain's great hope will go into his home slam seeded fourth after a stellar start to the season, winning a maiden Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, reaching another final in Madrid and the semi-finals at Queen's. Now free of the fitness issues which dogged his formative years, Draper is one of the most feared players on the ATP Tour and is desperate to emulate Andy Murray and claim the Wimbledon crown. Alexander Bublik The maverick from Kazakhstan – who prefers a getaway to Las Vegas to a training block – knocked Draper out of the French Open and accounted for Sinner on his way to the Halle title last week in a blur of pinpoint serving, thunderous winners and a drop shot which lands like a butterfly with sore feet. Temperamental, gloriously unpredictable and brilliant fun to watch.
