Jasprit Bumrah Looks In Good Shape, So Too Siraj And Krishna!

After three months of suspense Jasprit Bumrah — laid low by back spasms from the second innings of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney — offered glimpses of his fitness in the Tata-IPL-18 turning up for MI against the RCB at the Wankhede. He bowled four overs in three spells — 4th, 11th, and 18th and 20th, described as death overs. Virat Kohli and Jitesh Sharma smashed him for a 6 each, even then Bumrah finished with a creditable 0/29. While Bumrah will be monitored in MI’s future matches — the other fast and seam bowlers who did duty in Australia, mainly Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna — both of whom bowled their heart out in the Sydney Test in January this year and Harshit Rana have impressed in a format the best in business are torn to shreds. Akash Deep too has returned to action and Mohammed Shami, who was absent in Australia, has looked the champion since his return from the Champions Trophy after a long forced injury lay off. They will have some solid work in the five Test matches in the English summer from June 20 to August 4 at Leeds, Birmingham, London, Manchester and The Oval. Who will be the backup seamer with batting skills the selection committee and the team management will look at? Among the top wicket takers are Hardik Pandya who has a collection of 10 wickets and is among the joint top-3 in the IPL-18 with Siraj and left arm seamer, Khaleel Ahmed and Shardul Thakur with nine wickets in five matches. But the “Big Q” is will Pandya make himself available for Test match cricket?