Ben Stokes' Blunt Reply To Reporter On Jasprit Bumrah Question In Press Conference

England captain Ben Stokes on Tuesday dismissed the chatter surrounding Jasprit Bumrah's availability for only three Tests out of five as "India's problem" and said he is expecting the "passionate" visitors to fight hard in the second Test irrespective of the team composition. Bumrah was by far the best Indian bowler on show at Leeds, where the Shubman Gill-led side lost from a position of strength. The likes of Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur were not consistent enough with their lengths to test the England batters.

India have not decided which three Tests Bumrah will be a part of over the course of the English summer. He has played one, leaving him to feature in two out of the next four games.

However, Stokes and Co are not bothered about Bumrah's availability and are focusing on extending their series lead.

"That's India's problem. They will deal with it. I am captain of England," that is how Stokes handled the query on Bumrah.

Having said that, Stokes gave due respect to the opposition.

"Good team. They always fight hard, come hard. Very passionate team," he said when asked about the trailing Indian team.

"It's pretty clear that there's always pressure on shoulders of international sportsmen, but playing for India, especially in cricket, there's probably a bit more on any other nation. So, yeah, a very proud nation. Don't take anything for granted from last week. We start at 0-0 again."

England had chased down 371 on day five at Leeds to complete their second highest successful chase in Test cricket. The highest chase, 378, too came against India at Edgbaston three years ago.

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Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team England Cricket Team Jasprit Bumrah Ben Stokes Rishabh Pant England vs India, 2025 Cricket