Chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that Jasprit Bumrah might not play all five Test matches on the England tour, which starts on June 20. Bumrah had recently led the Indian team when Rohit Sharma was not available, but this time, he has not been named captain. Instead, Shubman Gill will lead the side, with Rishabh Pant as the vice-captain.

Agarkar explained that the main reason behind this decision is to manage Bumrah’s workload. Since Bumrah has had injury issues in the past, the team doesn’t want to take any risks by making him play every game. To give the team more options, left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh has been added to the squad.

“Arshdeep is a quality bowler. He’s played county cricket, does well in domestic matches, and can swing the new ball. He’s tall and has done well in red-ball cricket over the last few years. Since Bumrah may not play all the matches, we wanted a bit of variety in the attack,” Agarkar said during the press conference.

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Agarkar also spoke about why Karun Nair was picked over Sarfaraz Khan. Even though Sarfaraz scored a century in his debut Test, he hasn’t performed well since then. With Virat Kohli missing the tour, the team needed someone experienced in the middle order. Karun has been in good form recently and has played Test and county cricket as well.

“Sometimes, you have to make tough choices. Sarfaraz got a hundred in his first Test, but didn’t score much after that. Karun has scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket and has experience. With Virat not in the squad, we felt Karun’s experience would be helpful,” Agarkar explained.