Gautam Gambhir rejects Sunil Gavaskar's plea; remains firm on 'Jasprit Bumrah' stance: 'Before he came on this tour...'

The glaring cracks in the Indian pace unit left the legendary Sunil Gavaskar making a request to Jasprit Bumrah to play all five Test matches against England in the ongoing tour. While the fast bowler maintained the mystery around the possibility, India head coach Gautam Gambhir issued a fresh verdict after the side suffered a five-wicket loss in the opening game in Leeds. India's Jasprit Bumrah picked no wickets in the second innings in Leeds(Action Images via Reuters)

Gavaskar's words came amid Bumrah picking up a five-wicket haul in the first innings. He single-handedly dictated the terms for India and denied England a lead at home. But while he finished with five for 83 in India's first bowling innings, the rest of the fast bowlers - Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna - picked up the remaining five for 283 runs.

It was initially planned that Bumrah would play not more than three matches in England to manage his workload and long-standing struggle with back issues, which had troubled him as recently as the tour of Australia earlier this year. The 31-year-old was forced to miss the Champions Trophy due to a back spasm during the Sydney Test.

And even as Bumrah stayed tight-lipped after wife Sanjana Ganesan made him aware of Gavaskar's request, Gambhir clarified that India's plan will remain unchanged, although they have yet to ascertain which two other matches he will play.

"I think for us to manage Bumrah's workload is more important because there's a lot of cricket going forward and we know that what he brings to the table as well," Gambhir said.

"So before he came on this tour, it was already decided that he's going to play three Test matches, but let's see how his body turns up. But we haven't decided which two other Test matches he's going to play."

Bumrah had failed to pick a single wicket in the final innings of the match at Headingley, which allowed England to successfully chase down the large victory target of 371 to win.

Gambhir also defended India's bowling attack amid criticism during the five days of the test match.

"This bowling attack has one bowler with five Tests under his belt, one has four, one has played two and one hasn't yet debuted," Gambhir said in defence of his bowling group.

"We will have to give them time.

"Earlier, we used to have four fast bowlers in the squad with an experience of more than 40 Tests. It doesn't make such a big impact in one-day or T20 matches, but when you go to Australia, England or South Africa for Tests, experience matters. These are early days.

"If we start judging our bowlers after every Test, how will be develop a bowling attack? Outside Bumrah and (Mohammad) Siraj, we don't have that much experience, but they have quality, which is why they are in this dressing room. But we have got to keep backing them because it's not about one tour. It's about building a fast-bowler battery that can serve India for long time in Test cricket."

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