Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for Edgbaston Test after playing in Leeds for workload management.
Despite India's 0-1 deficit in the five-match series, Michael Vaughan has joined an increasing chorus of people who are shocked by the team's decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah for the second Test at Edgbaston.
Several former players and coaches, including Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Tom Moody, and Nasser Hussain, publicly questioned the reasoning behind resting the world's top Test bowler due to Bumrah's absence, as India was eager to recover from the Headingley debacle.
“I've been bamboozled by the fact that India announced that Jasprit Bumrah is only playing three Tests. Why would you [be] telling them that? Just play three. If you don't pick him, fine. But, on the back of seven days and India down in the series, I thought he would've played here,” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.
The former England captain stressed the high stakes of the match, criticizing India’s timing and approach.
"India has to win this game. They lose here, they're 2-0 down, you will bring Jasprit back in Lord's... I know the players want to play at Lord's. But I just look at India: they've got to win this week,” he added.
Vaughan went further, casting doubt on the Indian team's overall balance despite having a large number of all-rounders and only five specialist batters.
“I would've wanted two more bowlers. I would want Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, and Arshdeep Singh. You could potentially argue that you could've got on with three spinners on this kind of surface at Edgbaston. It's dry and slow,” he added.
India, resuming from 310/5 on day two, crossed the 400-mark as Shubman Gill brought up his maiden 150 and Ravindra Jadeja provided adequate support.