India are playing a two-match Test series against Sri Lanka and the second Test of the series will be played in Bangalore with the pink ball. Ahead of the game, Bumrah has cleared that Axar Patel will walk straight into the playing XI of the team as soon as he recovers from his injury.
India made an impressive start against Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series winning the Mohali Test by an innings and 222 runs. They will now face the visitors in Bangalore for a pink-ball Test. Ahead of the second game, Kuldeep Yadav has left the bio-secure bubble and Axar Patel who has been on the sidelines since the home series against New Zealand last year returned to the squad.
Speaking about the team composition for the pink-ball Test, India pacer Jasprit Bumrah said that Axar will walk straight into the team whenever he is fit.
“Axar has added a lot of value to the team, he offers a lot with the bat, bowl and the field and whenever he is fit, he jumps straight back in the team,” Bumrah told reporters during the pre-match presser on Friday.
Axar made a solid start to his Test career as he scalped 27 wickets in three matches against England in the debut series becoming the second highest wicket-taker. He has 36 wickets from five Test matches. Also, India will be playing their third pink-ball Test. The team have won one day-night Test against Bangladesh and have lost the pink-ball Test against Australia. The team will try to adjust to the format in the match.
“We will take a call on the combination (going in with thee spinners or three seamers) today after the practice session,” Bumrah said, while insisting that the team will be making some “mental adjustments” for the pink-ball Test,” he added.
“We are playing the Pink Ball Test after a long time. There will be a few mental adjustments that we have to make. It is not natural for us to catch the pink ball. It is a challenge that we face. We are still new to this format, so we are taking feedback from our previous game and practicing them and trying to replicate them in the match.”
