“Where does Jadeja go?” - Dinesh Karthik on India playing 11 without Jasprit Bumrah in ENG vs IND 2025 2nd Test

Former Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik expressed his opinion on India's playing 11 without ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the second Test. India are in England for a five-match series. While they lost the opening Test, the second game is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, July 2, in Birmingham.

Jasprit Bumrah, who played the first Test, is likely to be rested for the second to manage his workload. Talking on Cricbuzz, Dinesh Karthik spoke about India playing two spinners if Bumrah misses out. However, he added that playing two spinners will weaken the batting.

"We need to look at both contingencies. What happens if Bumrah is playing and what happens if he is not. India have a massive decision to make. Everything about England tells you that you don' need to play more than one spinner. If you play two spinners that genuinely weakens your batting. So that is a big decision. Are you still going to be looking at Nitish Reddy at number 8? which means just three bowlers. Or Nitish Reddy at 7 then where does Jadeja go?," he said.

Having lost the first Test by five wickets, India will be eager to bounce back at Birmingham and draw level. It remains to be as to what combination the visitors will go with for the second Test.

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"It's not about what he wants to do" - Dinesh Karthik on whether Jasprit Bumrah will play the second Test

While it has been reported that Bumrah will miss the second Test due to workload management, as mentioned above, Dinesh Karthik mentioned that the team will have to see what they want to do and take a call, rather than it being about what Bumrah wants to do.

The ace pacer could return for the third Test at Lord's if he missed the Birmingham Test. However, Dinesh Karthik feels that not having Bumrah and losing the second Test, being 0-2 down, is of no use.

"He's bowled a lot of overs. It gives his body more time. The more the better for him. I would like to think he would like to play at Lord's as well. It's quite a nice ground and has lot of history. But it's not about what he wants to do, it's about what the team feels they need to do as well. If they feel there is no point going to Lord's 2-0 might as well try and go 1-1, that is a decision they need to take," he said.

Bumrah had picked up five wickets in the first innings of the opening Test. However, the rest of the bowling did not look as effective, highlighting his importance to the bowling attack.

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Edited by Vaishnavi Iyer