Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said that India’s fit-again pace trio will trouble the England batters in the five-match series starting in June. The series will mark the beginning of the new ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle as well, with India heading into it on the back of white-ball success with their Champions Trophy win recently as well. However, they will be eager to bounce back after a poor outing in their previous series in Australia – a 3-1 series loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as well.
Shastri, speaking in The ICC Review, said, “I think with Siraj, Jasprit and Mohammed Shami, these three, if they are fully fit, they will give England heaps of problems. It’s a quality, top-class pace attack when you get these three fit. And what I like about Siraj, I’m glad he was hurt after being put out, not in the side for the Champions Trophy. That’s what you want. For him to go back to the drawing board and come back the way he has, there’s a spring in his stride, the pace is up there, and he means business game after game. And that is perfect from India’s point of view with England coming up.”
Jasprit Bumrah, too, looks to have regained his rhythm in the ongoing IPL after the injury that sidelined him during the final match of the Border-Gavaskar series, which eventually ruled him out of the Champions Trophy as well. Shastri, however, opined on the need for India to manage Bumrah’s workload during the tour of England as well.
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“I would be very, very careful [with Bumrah],” Shastri added. “I would give him two Test matches at a time and then wait for the break. Ideally, make him play four. You’ll be tempted to make him play five if he starts off in a great manner, but it’s how his body pulls up. He should be given the first opportunity to say, ‘Yes, a little, [I am] feeling the niggle. A break would help.’ Give him that break.”
Shami, on the othher hand, returned to international cricket for India only in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy, after a long stint on the sidelines since the 2023 Cricket World Cup Final due to a knee injury as well. Mohammed Siraj is also making his mark for India at the ICC World Test Championship Final against Australia as well.
“You’ll have to see how he’s bowling in the nets, but I think there’s enough experience there for him to start off,” Ravi Shastri said on Shami. “The fact that he puts his hand up and says, ‘I’m available for that first Test match’ means he knows his fitness levels. He’s a workhorse. I’ve known Shami for a long time. If he puts his mind to it, he’ll get there. And the fact that there’s Siraj and there’s Jasprit doing as well as they are, that is just the motivation he needs to step up and get to that level.”
England and India will play the first of five Tests at Headingley in Leeds from 20 June, with other Tests taking place in Edgbaston, Lord’s, Old Trafford and The Oval as well.
