Of India's star act and the Kuldeep question

Bumrah may sit out for the Edgbaston Test, and a toss-up between Sundar and Kuldeep seems likely

- Ashish Magotra

NEW DELHI: No team in international cricket is more dependent on their best individual performer than India. Perhaps that may be a tad too much but when a team is assured of wickets at an average (wickets by runs) of 19.60 and a strike rate (wickets by balls bowled) of 42.3, Jasprit Bumrah's usual returns, it is only right to assume that the absence will hurt more than usual.

In one-day internationals and Twenty20, the limited nature of the format allows teams to paper over the cracks. If a star is missing, someone else can step in and get through the overs somehow. But in Test cricket, quality matters.

The requirement isn't runs. India got plenty of them at Headingley. But while England managed to get 20 wickets, India's bowlers didn't. And now they may have to attempt to do that at Edgbaston, Birmingham presumably without Bumrah, the man who is head and shoulders above all the other bowlers in the series.

There's been so much talk of whether Bumrah will play or not but we still don't know for sure what India's call is. But sometimes someone's absence can just be as inspiring as their presence — remember India's great victory at the Gabba in 2021? Either way, India will hope there is some truth in that statement.