Gautam Gambhir Should Rest Jasprit Bumrah During Tests vs West Indies. Here's Why

India vs West Indies: Jasprit Bumrah played the Asia Cup 2025, which India won. Would India have done better without him? Hard to say. In a couple of days time, India take on West Indies in a two-match Test series -0 the question is shouldn't Bumrah have skipped this series? India's ace pacer did not play a couple of Tests in England when the side desperately needed him. He was rested because of workload management. 

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Why Play Windies?

The West Indies team is ranked 8th in the latest ICC rankings with 1865 points and a rating of 72. They are a side that is struggling and would very well end up losing against India - with or without Bumrah. Shouldn't Gambhir rest him now? Wouldn't it have been wiser to give your spot to a new talent? Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan critisised the move. 

"It seems like a missed opportunity not to play a young fast bowler in these two Tests, but that’s the team’s current direction. If I were a selector or manager, I would have surely tried to give a young fast bowler an opportunity, focusing on their development, not just quick results. Bumrah remains committed to Test cricket, which is fantastic,” Pathan said. 

"India needs a group of eight good fast bowlers, not just three or four," he added further. 

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Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna are the two fast bowlers in the squad apart from Bumrah. 

India vs West Indies

The first of the two Tests begins on October 2 at the iconic Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. 

After that, the second game starts on October 10 in Delhi's Arun Jaitley stadium. Both teams will look to collect important World Test Championship points.