Team India's pacer Jasprit Bumrah shared a cryptic post on his Instagram story after claiming the top spot in the latest Test Bowling rankings on Wednesday, January 7.
Following his impressive performance with the ball in 2nd Test against England in Vizag, Bumrah dethroned his teammate Ravichandran Ashwin to be the new World No.1 bowler in Test Cricket. With this, the pacer became the second Indian cricketer after Virat Kohli and the fourth overall after Mathew Hayden, Ricky Ponting and Kohli to become the World No.1 across all formats of the game.
Jasprit Bumrah picked nine wickets in the Vizag Test, with best figures of 6/45 in 15.5 overs in the first innings to help Team India win against England to level the series 1-1. He was adjudged Player of the Match for his brilliant bowling performance with figures of 9/91 in the match.
Additionally, Bumrah completed 150 Test wickets in his career and became the fastest Indian bowler to achieve this milestone in the longest format of the game.
Jasprit Bumrah's cryptic post
Two days after Jasprit Bumrah starred with the ball, the Indian pacer shared a cryptic post on his Instagram story which reads, 'The Support vs The Congratulations'.
Jasprit Bumrah's Instagram story |
The context behind Jasprit Bumrah's cryptic post is unclear but fans claim that it was an indirect dig at naysayers who questioned his commitment to the national team after he was sidelined for a year due to injury, which saw him ruling out of the T20 World Cup 2022 and World Test Championship Final last year.
Jasprit Bumrah made his comeback to competitive cricket in the T20I series against Ireland. The 30-year-old participated in the ODI World Cup 2023 and picked 20 wickets in 11 matches. In December, Bumrah played his first match for India in whites since 2022 in the two-match Test series against South Africa.
Jasprit Bumrah likely to be rested for Rajkot Test
Jasprit Bumrah is expected to be granted break for the third Test against England in Rajkot, starting on January 15. Team management and selectors are considering Indian pacer to give a break in order to be reenergized for the final two Tests in Ranchi and Dharamshala.
Bumrah is the leading wicket-taker in the ongoing Test series against England, scalping 15 wickets, including a six-wicket haul, at an average of 10.67 across four innings. Managing workload of bowlers have become crucial for the team management as India are without Mohammed Shami in this series as he is likely to take time for international return due to ankle injury.
In the likely absence of Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj is expected to lead the pace bowling attack alongside Mukesh Kumar. Ravindra Jadeja is likely ruled out of the Rajkot Test while KL Rahul to return for remaining 3 matches.
The BCCI selection committee is expected to announce squad for three Tests in the coming days.
