New Delhi: While India may hold off on disclosing Jasprit Bumrah's participation in the second Test at Edgbaston until the very end, England captain Ben Stokes said that they are not at all concerned about it. “That is India’s issue, and they will take care of it,” he said.

India's issue, in fact. Additionally, it was a large one. They have not yet convinced anyone that their plan for dealing with it is sound.

Given that the bowling spearhead is only available for three games and the visitors have already given up a 1-0 advantage, they have their work cut out for them. Although the pitch at the first Test in Leeds was level and the Indian bowling was sometimes uninteresting, Bumrah managed to make an impression.

Although Bumrah's statistics from the opening Test may point to a strong showing with five wickets in the game and an average of 28.0, it is the comparative data that should be concerning to India.

The rest of India's bowlers managed a combined strike rate of 83.4, while Bumrah only hit once every 52.4 balls. His average of 28, however, is far lower than the rest of the bowling lineup, which is 65.4. This is in stark contrast to how helpless India appeared without him. He was the only bowler that seemed to the audience and the scoreboard able to continuously challenge England's aggressive batting strategy.

Despite not taking any wickets in the second innings and no other bowler appearing capable of doing so, he maintained the team in the game by either consistently outplaying the bat or applying pressure. In the first innings, Bumrah's dot-ball percentage was 74%, compared to 63% for the others, according to CricViz. His dot ball rate was still 75% in the second innings, while the others were again 61%.

Although Josh Tongue's seven wickets were numerically the most influential for England, Ben Stokes and Brydon Carse made the greatest difference in terms of impacting important moments by dismissing India's top order, whereas Tongue mostly cleared the tail.

Bumrah's contribution to India was to break through the top order and highlight England's weaknesses. An examination of the wicket breakdown reveals that the wicket conditions favor Bumrah. Three of England's best top-order batsmen were dismissed by Bumrah: Joe Root, Ben Duckett, and Zak Crawley. In addition, Prasidh Krishna captured three top-order wickets: Crawley, Pope (1st innings), and Pope (2nd innings). Although Shardul Thakur took two wickets, just one of them was in the top four.

India will miss both a wicket-taker and a bowler who turns games back in their favor due to Bumrah's absence. That is demonstrated by Bumrah's consistency throughout World Test Championship cycles. India have a win-loss-draw record of 15-9-4 in games when he captures at least three wickets in an innings.

Bumrah has demonstrated remarkable command as a pacer throughout the previous three WTC cycles, with a dot ball percentage of 79–80%. In the 2023–2025 cycle, his percentage of fake shots increased from 20–21% to a high of 28%. Over time, hitters are making more poor shots and fewer scoring ones against him.

Despite his unavailability in at least two games, Gautam Gambhir and Ryan ten Doeschate's coaching team insist they can assemble a winning eleven. Questioning bowlers continuously implies impeding the route to create a pace battery, and a single bowler is unable to win you games, according to them. However, it cannot be disputed that it is a psychological setback. Bumrah commands respect on the field with his energy and precision. When he's bowling, England's batsmen are aware they can't afford to be too loose.

India must discover alternative strategies to keep England at bay in his absence. However, replicating Bumrah is difficult, as seen by the statistics. Adding another offensive bowler is a different possibility. A country that England may be reluctant to push around. However, it can be too late in the series for India to address if they think that their main area of worry right now is their lower-order batting rather than their bowling.

Read Also: The Indian Team’s Star Obsession and the Kuldeep Selection Issue

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