Former Australia spinner makes shocking claim on Jasprit Bumrah’s availability in first Test against England

The new-look Team India under the captaincy of newly-appointed skipper Shubman Gill is set to take on England in the high-octane five-match Test series, starting on June 20. The first Test of the series will be played at Headingley in Leeds. It will be a very crucial series for India as it is going to be their first assignment in the new World Test Championship cycle of 2025-27.

Meanwhile, this series will also be very important from the Indian perspective as they are set to go through a major transition in the longest format of the game. Amidst all this, the team has big hopes from the few senior players, especially the star pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.

Jasprit Bumrah’s role is going to be crucial, and he will be a vital cog in the wheel for Team India in this all-important Test series against the Englishmen. In the same vein, the former Australian spinner and now cricket expert, Brad Hogg, has come up with a big statement while speaking about Bumrah.

I don’t know where you’d play him – Brad Hogg on Jasprit Bumrah

Brad Hogg also questioned and expressed concern about Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for the visitors in the opening Test of the five-match series.

“You’ve got to be very strategic with those three Test matches. Where are you going to get the most benefit out of him? Because he can turn the game, he can turn the series on its head. So you want to make sure that you play him at Lord’s, definitely, and probably Warwickshire,” said Hogg to RevSportz in an exclusive interview.

“And I don’t know where you’d play him in the other three Test matches, but you want to make sure you play him in those crucial games. I probably wouldn’t even play him in the first Test match. I’d just go, ‘Right, England, we don’t have Bumrah.’ And you could just see England thinking, ‘Oh, they don’t have Bumrah – that’s good, we don’t have to face him.’ But then they’re going to start worrying about him in the second Test match. And if he turns the tide in the second match, then all of a sudden, England are playing catch-up. So I’d add a bit of by-play there,” he added later.