Mohammed Siraj provides major update on Bumrah for fourth Test against England

MANCHESTER: Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has confirmed that India’s ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah is set to play in the upcoming fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England, scheduled to be played here at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

India, the visiting team trailing 2-1 in the five-match series following their heartbreaking defeat in the third Test, had been struggling due to the injuries of fast bowlers as Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep picked up injuries just before the fourth showdown, as well as the workload management of leading pacer Bumrah.

According to reports ahead of the series, it was decided that the right-arm fast bowler would only feature in three matches of the series to avoid a recurrence of the back injury, for which he underwent surgery earlier this year.

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Jasprit Bumrah has played two matches in the series so far and will be available for only one of the remaining matches.

Keeping in mind the workload of their pace spearhead, India have been critical about Bumrah’s utilisation in the series. However, fellow pacer Mohammed Siraj has now confirmed that the 31-year-old will play in the upcoming match.

“He (Bumrah) will play. Akash Deep has a groin issue, he bowled today and now physios will see. That’s what I know so far,” Siraj said.

“But as the combinations keep changing, we need to be patient, as much as we can. Bowl in the right areas. If you saw the last game, they (England) batted with a lot of patience. We also felt like that’s the real fun of Test cricket.”

Meanwhile, England have announced their playing XI, with veteran spinner Liam Dawson returning to the fold after eight years in Test matches.

India squad for fourth Test

Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj.

England Playing XI for fourth Test

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer

READ: Shubman, Akash power Bumrah-less India to thrashing win over England