England receive boost ahead of fourth India Test as tormentor set to miss clash
Jasprit Bumrah will miss the fourth Test between England and India after the hosts decided to rest their star fast bowler.
Bumrah is the leading wicket taker in the series so far, having picked up 17 at an average of just 13.64. He has also bowled a total of 80.5 overs across the first three Tests, more than any other seamer on show.
As a result, BCCI chief Jay Shah confirmed in a statement that Bumrah had been released from the squad due to the "amount of cricket he has played in recent times". It was also confirmed that KL Rahul will miss the fourth Test, having been ruled out of the second with a quad injury and the third with a knee issue.
Mukesh Kumar has rejoined the squad in Ranchi, having been allowed to play in the Ranji Trophy for Bengal after not being picked for the third Test. Kumar picked up career-best match figures of 10 for 50 in an innings victory over Bihar and he will be in contention to replace Bumrah.
England won the first Test in Hyderabad by 28 runs, largely thanks to a brilliant 196 by Ollie Pope and debutant Tom Hartley's 7-62. However, India hit back in the second and third Tests to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
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Despite England suffering a mammoth 434 run defeat in the third Test, captain Ben Stokes remains confident they can bounce back and win the series 2-1. "Everyone's got a perception and opinion about things," Stokes said after the game.
"But again, the people in the dressing-room's are the opinions that really matter to us. We know that things don't always work out exactly how you want it to, but at 2-1 down in the series, still got two games left, so we've got a great chance to come home with the trophy at 3-2.
Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are confident England can fight back and win the series 3-2 (Stu Forster/Getty Images)"We'll make sure that we're moving on and focusing on what we've got coming up ahead, because games can be won and lost in the head. We'll be leaving all the emotion and disappointment from this week, and moving on to the next one."
Coach Brendon McCullum echoed Stokes' comments, telling BBC Sport : "We'll turn the page and go quids in again trying to put India under pressure. Hopefully in seven or eight days we'll be talking about how exciting it is to be heading into a decider.
"We've still got some progress to make and some things to improve on, but we're a better team now than we were 18 months ago. We're obviously not totally screwed down on the method yet. There will be times when we don't quite get it right because it's a hard way to play."
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