Why Jasprit Bumrah not playing: Why is Bhuvneshwar Kumar not playing today’s 3rd T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Dharamsala?

Jasprit Bumrah not playing: India have made as many as four changes to their Playing XI for this dead-rubber in Dharamsala.

During the third T20I of the ongoing Sri Lanka’s tour of India in Dharamsala, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka has won the toss and chose to bat in a dead-rubber. Having lost the first two T20Is, Shanaka laid emphasis on playing for pride tonight.

“We will bat first, a very good wicket, the conditions are really good. We want to win at least one game for pride, a good opportunity for our boys,” Shanaka told Star Sports at the toss.

Talking about a couple of changes made to their Playing XI, Shanaka confirmed leaving out batter Kamil Mishara and spinner Praveen Jayawickrama for this match. “Two changes for us – Praveen Jayawickrama and Kamil Mishara are out. Janith Liyanage and Jeffrey Vandersay are in,” Shanaka said.

Why is Jasprit Bumrah not playing 3rd T20I vs Sri Lanka?

India captain Rohit Sharma, who wanted to field first again tonight, was contended with Shanaka’s decision at the toss. Playing his 125th T20I, readers must note that Sharma has become the most capped T20I player.

As far as the changes for the hosts are concerned, India have left out wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan, fast bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. While Kishan is out due to an injury, the bowling trio has been rested to provide more opportunities to reserve players.

“We wanted to bowl first as well. Want to keep challenging to get better as a team, every opportunity counts. Ishan [Kishan] is ruled out and wasn’t feeling great last night. [Jasprit] Bumrah, Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and [Yuzvendra] Chahal are all rested.

“[Ravi] Bishnoi, Kuldeep [Yadav], Avesh [Khan] and [Mohammed] Siraj are in. It’s a great feeling representing your country in 125 T20Is, feels good, look to continue playing for many more years,” Sharma mentioned.

Having included multiple bowling options including an extra spinner as Kishan’s replacement, Sharma has enough resources to manage in the first innings at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium tonight. With the team management not having a debut to Mayank Agarwal, one out of Sanju Samson or Venkatesh Iyer will open the batting with Sharma in this match.