Dale Steyn, a former South African pacer, blasted the Indian team’s management, especially head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill, for leaving Jasprit Bumrah out of the starting lineup for the second Test match against England in Birmingham.
Bumrah, who was substituted by Akash Deep, had taken five wickets in the first innings of the first Test match at Headingley, Leeds, and had played brilliantly. Despite being behind 0-1 in the series, India rested Bumrah and made three lineup changes.
Dale Steyn questioned the reasoning for sitting a game-winning player when the team is already under pressure, drawing a comparison between the move and Portugal benching Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo is the world’s best striker, yet Portugal decided not to use him. That is insane.
That would be like to India having Bumrah and not playing him—wait, gosh, no, what! “Shit, I don’t understand,” Dale Steyn exclaimed in X.
So Portugal have the best striker in the world in Ronaldo and they chose not to play him.
Thats madness.
That’s like India having Bumrah and choosing not to play, umm, him… wait, oh, no, what! shit I’m confused 😵💫
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) July 2, 2025
As part of a workload management strategy, India had declared prior to the series that Bumrah will only play in three of the five Test matches. During the May squad announcement, top selector Ajit Agarkar affirmed the decision, which was done on the rigorous recommendation of the BCCI medical team.
Gill and Gambhir chose to rest the 31-year-old pacer for the second Test, even though a number of specialists urged the team management to do so. In accordance with the established policy, they affirmed that Bumrah would not participate in the Edgbaston Test.
“Just to keep his workload under control.” This is a crucial match for us, and we did receive a nice respite. At the toss, Gill stated, “But since the third Test is at Lord’s, we believe there will be more in that pitch, so we’ll use him there.”
Speaking about the game, India finished with 310 for 5 to close up Day 1 strongly. With an undefeated 114, his second consecutive century in the series, Gill took the lead. Yashasvi Jaiswal, the opener, got off to a strong start with a fluid 87, and Gill and Ravindra Jadeja were still at stumps at 41.
With stats of 2 for 59 from his 21 overs, local sensation Chris Woakes was the best bowler for England.
India
