India's Best Bowling Attack Without Jasprit Bumrah For Sri Lanka Tests

Bumrah has been ruled out of Test series vs Sri Lanka [Source: AFP]

Even before a single ball has been delivered in the India vs Sri Lanka Test series, the visitors have suffered a massive blow as star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has reportedly been ruled out of the two-game series. He sustained a knee injury during the second ODI Vs England, and the pacer has not recovered from it.

Bumrah was supposed to be India’s vital cog on the Sri Lankan tour, but now, the visitors have to cope without him, as India will field a not-so-threatening pace attack.

With Bumrah ruled out, India’s bowling has become weaker, and ahead of the crucial first Test match at Galle, we take a look at India’s potential bowling attack vs Sri Lanka in the absence of Bumrah.

India's Test squad vs Sri Lanka

Before we dive into the permutations and combinations in the bowling department, here is India’s updated Test squad for the Sri Lanka series.

Shubman Gill (C), KL Rahul (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Saransh Jain.

India's strongest bowling attack in Bumrah's absence

Two-man pace attack, no place for Gurnoor Brar

The Sri Lanka Test series holds utmost importance for India in terms of the WTC final, and hence, the visiting side might want to go in with their two most experienced pacers in Bumrah’s absence.

There is Gurnoor Brar in the reckoning, and he had done well against Sri Lanka in the A tour, but at least for the first Test, India might go in with Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.

Siraj can exploit the conditions early with his seam-bowling. He can nip the ball both ways to trouble the Sri Lankan batters. Moreover, Krishna could use his height to extract extra bounce from the Galle surface.

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Both pacers have different skillsets, and that can be an added advantage for India as they’ll field two pacers who can bamboozle the Sri Lankan batting with varied skills.

Gurnoor is relatively inexperienced, and India might want to go in with two pacers who have more experience in Tests.

Three quality spinners, no debut for Saransh Jain

India have four quality spinners in their ranks - Ravindra Jadeja, Manav Suthar, Kuldeep Yadav, and Saransh Jain. For the first time, Saransh was picked in the India Test squad, but he might have to wait for a while to get his debut cap.

Jadeja automatically gets into the India playing XI, purely based on his match-winning ability (both with bat and ball). With his left-arm spin-bowling, Jadeja can be a dangerous commodity.

Sri Lanka has plenty of right-handed batters in their Test team, and Jadeja will have the upper hand as he can drift the ball away from them. Moreover, his presence also strengthens Team India’s batting.

Manav Suthar made his India Test debut in the one-off game vs Afghanistan, and the all-rounder impressed everyone by picking 7 wickets in the Test match, and entered the list of best bowling figures by an Indian on Test debut. He used the conditions to his advantage, and just like Jadeja, Suthar will also add batting depth in the Indian side.

Kuldeep Yadav might not be the first-choice in white-ball cricket, but on the spin-friendly Sri Lankan wickets, he can wreak havoc with his guile and variations. He’ll be the main spinner in the playing XI, and interestingly, in the only match he played against Sri Lanka, the spinner bagged 5 wickets.

India's strongest bowling attack in Jasprit Bumrah's absence vs SL

Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ravindra Jadeja, Manav Suthar, Kuldeep Yadav

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