Edgbaston [UK], June 28 : Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah returned to the nets on Saturday during the optional training session ahead of the second Test against England at Birmingham, bowling for at least half an hour.
However, a final call on Bumrah's participation during the second Test is yet to be taken, as per ESPNCricinfo. Before the series, team management had made it clear that the superstar bowler will feature in only three out of five matches, with skipper Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir staying tight-lipped about which matches he will play.
The final call will be taken on how good Bumrah feels about his body going into the Test. During his net session, he went full tilt after not bowling on Friday.
Everyone turned up for the practice session except for India's centurions from the first Test at Leeds, skipper Shubman Gill, vice-captain Rishabh Pant, openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
During the nets session, the main focus was giving a lot of batting practice to bowlers as during the Leeds Test, India faced collapses in both innings, losing their last seven wickets for 41 runs in the first innings and last six wickets for 31 in the second innings. This proved to be a massive factor in their five-wicket loss as England successfully chased down 371 runs. Over the last two tours in England, India's last four partnerships have averaged 19.11 in 2021 and 16.35 in 2018. India will be now aiming to get better contributions from their lower order at Birmingham.
Now, India will be having a day off on Sunday before returning for another training session on Monday. On the day before the match, they will take things easy and most likely, batters seeking some throwdowns will turn up. Pacers who are likely to play in Wednesday are likely to get a Tuesday off from practice.
India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.