India have gone without Jasprit Bumrah in the third and final Test against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai after the pacer was unavailable for selection due to illness on Friday. Speaking at the coin toss, India captain Rohit Sharma revealed that Bumrah isn’t well and named Mohammed Siraj as the replacement.
“Unfortunately, Bumrah is not well, Siraj comes in for him,” said Rohit when asked about the changes in his side. Meanwhile, the BCCI also posted an update on social media which says, “Mr Jasprit Bumrah has not fully recovered from his viral illness. He was unavailable for selection for the third Test in Mumbai.”
However, according to several media reports on Thursday, Bumrah had been given a small break and went back home to Ahmedabad so that the pacer gets proper rest ahead of the gruelling Border Gavaskar Trophy which starts later this month.
The reports also stated the Indian vice-captain has played four back-to-back Test matches (2 against Bangladesh and New Zealand each) and the management wants to manage his workload before the squad flies to Australia.
Reports on Wednesday also suggested that although Bumrah accompanied his teammates to the training session but didn’t bowl at nets. Instead the fast bowler focussed on specific drills and warm-ups.
Having already lost the series 0-2, this Test match might seem to be a dead rubber. However, the outcome of this Test match is equally important for both teams in the race for World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Earlier, Tom Latham won the toss as New Zealand opted to bat first. The visitors made two changes to their line-up. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, who starred in the Pune Test with a 13-wicket match haul is out with a side strain.
Leg spinner Ish Sodhi replaced Santner while pacer Matt Henry has come in for Tim Southee.
IND vs NZ Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry, Ajaz Patel and William ORourke.
