Mohammed Siraj confirms Jasprit Bumrah "will play" Manchester Test against England

Manchester [UK], July 21 (ANI): Indian right-arm seamer Mohammed Siraj on Monday confirmed that fast-bowler Jasprit Bumrah will play the fourth Test of the five-match series of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025 which will be played at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester from July 23.
During the announcement of India's squad for the Test tour of England, chief selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that Bumrah was advised not to contest consecutive Tests as part of his workload management. The precaution around Bumrah's usage stems from a stress reaction in his back during the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney in January.
Bumrah featured in the first and the third Tests, enchanted the spectators with his threatening spells, but India lost both fixtures. With two Tests left, India trailing in the five-match series by 1-2 and Bumrah available for one of those, Panesar feels India needs to go all out in Manchester.
Speaking to reporters in Manchester, Siraj stated, as quoted by ICC, "He (Bumrah) will play. That's what I know so far."
In the series opener at Headingley, Bumrah served as the driving force in India's seemingly toothless attack, with sizzling figures of 5/83 in the first innings. During India's 371-run defence, Bumrah lost his magic and went wicketless as the visitors surrendered a five-wicket defeat.
In the third Test at Lord's, the 31-year-old rattled England's batting unit and blazed his way to a record-shattering five-wicket haul. In the second turn, he scythed two scalps and finished with match figures of 7/112 as India endured a 22-run heartbreak.
Further, Siraj spoke about the team combination which will play the fourth Test at Manchester.
"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," he added.
Recapping the Lord's Test of the ongoing series, an unfortunate dismissal of Mohammed Siraj at the hands of Shoaib Bashir, with the ball rolling back into the stumps after landing on the pitch, marked the end of India's stubborn resistance at Lord's, with Ravindra Jadeja left stranded following a heartbreaking 22-run loss.
India lost the match despite dominating England for large parts of the game, with Jasprit Bumrah being one of the standout performers. He took seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
The Three Lions are currently 2-1 ahead in the five-match series after winning the third Test at Lord's by just 22 runs.
England squad for fourth Test against India: Ben Stokes (Captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
India's squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)