India vs England, 2nd Test: Why was Jasprit Bumrah rested in Chennai? Virat Kohli tells it all

India rested Jasprit Bumrah after one Test

Chennai, February 13: The second Test between India and England at the MA Chidambaram stadium offered a strange scenario with both the teams opting to rest some of the best bowlers after just one Test under the rotation policy.

England had announced their 12-man squad for the second Test without James Anderson and Dom Bess in it. Both Anderson and Bess had played pivotal roles in England's massive 227-run win in the first Test. India went without Jasprit Bumrah.

Bess had the number of Virat Kohli in the first innings, and Anderson bowled a marvellous spell in the second innings to snaffle Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant, breaking India's middle-order.

England went a step further and had decided to sent back Jos Buttler home after one Test and Ben Foakes has replaced the wicketkeeper batsman. With Jofra Archer getting ruled out due to an arm injury, England were forced to play Ollie Stone in place of him.

Root described the new attack. "The attack is fresh and we have made four changes. Coming to this surface, we try to balance the attack that can take 20 wickets. We've had big partnerships in the first-innings in the last few matches and that's going to be the challenge again for us here," he added.

Anderson had played two matches in a row - one against Sri Lanka at Galle and then in the first Test at Chepauk. So, there could be some logic to give a rest to the 38-year-old. But India resting Bumrah had bit of a surprise in it. After all, the pacer had made his comeback in the first Test after an abdominal strain forced him to sit out of the fourth Test against Australia at Brisbane.

But India skipper Virat Kohli said Bumrah's workload has to be managed considering that India have another two Tests at Ahmedabad with one being a day-night affair. "Jasprit Bumrah is rested and we need to manage workloads as well. Siraj is in and he can attack the stumps with his angles," he said.