"Hard to believe": Shastri baffled by India's decision to rest Bumrah in second Test against England

Birmingham [UK], July 2 (ANI): Former head coach and cricketer Ravi Shastri didn't mince his words while expressing his discontent with India's decision to rest world number one speedster Jasprit Bumrah for the second Test against England in Birmingham.
During the buildup to the second Test, speculation arose about Bumrah's absence from India's final XI. India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate and captain Shubman Gill declared Bumrah's "availability" but revealed that it had not been decided whether he would participate in the contest or not.
At the time of the toss on Wednesday, Gill confirmed that the 31-year-old is sitting out of the contest to manage his workload. The decision didn't sit well with the former India head coach, who struggled to believe and agree with the move.
"You have the best fast bowler in the world, and you make him sit out after seven days' rest. It's something very hard to believe and I can't agree with it," Shastri said on Sky Sports.
India lined up with its pace spearhead, Bumrah, in the series opener at Headingley but still ended on the wrong side of the result. He dazzled in the first innings with figures of 5/83 but lost his magic and returned wicketless in the second. Without Bumrah's charm, India floundered in its attempts to preserve a 371-run target, which England gunned down to take an early 1-0 advantage in the five-match series.
After the conclusion of the series opener, head coach Gautam Gambhir declared that the management would not budge on Bumrah's three-match utilisation. There were recommendations from fans and former cricketers to use Bumrah in all five Tests, but Gambhir quickly turned down the suggestion, claiming they were more concerned about his workload.
In Bumrah's absence, Akash Deep was brought in to fill the void as India put in the hard yards to restore parity in the gruelling affair. India fans would have to wait to see how Akash fairs under Edgbaston's conditions after the coin spun in favour of England captain Ben Stokes yet again, who opted to bowl first.
At the stroke of lunch, India lost Karun Nair (31) and KL Rahul (2) while Yashasvi Jaiswal continued to dazzle by swashbuckling his way to an unbeaten 62(69) to propel the touring party to 98/2. Shastri reflected on India's exploits in the first session and delivered unstinting praise for Jaiswal.
"I think they will be pretty happy but disappointed with the timing of Nair's dismissal, shortly before lunch. That's when you need to be concentrating hard - but there was very little Nair could do as the ball bounced from a length," Shastri said.
"Jaiswal batted beautifully - the mix of caution and aggression. He played to his off-side strengths and put anything loose away," he added. (ANI)