Former England spinner Monty Panesar cannot wrap his head around the uproar over India pace ace Jasprit Bumrah missing two out of the five Tests in England simply because both wins (at Edgbaston and the Oval) for the visitors came when their premier fast bowler was rested.

According to Panesar, this Shubman Gill-led Indian side have shown that they are not dependent on Bumrah to succeed. “This Indian team does not depend on Bumrah anymore. Bumrah’s hype is absolutely massive, but let’s be honest, India have a strong bowling attack,” Panesar, 43, told mid-day from London on Monday. 

“[Prasidh] Krishna is getting better and better with every Test match. I think he can open the bowling with [Mohammed] Siraj. They just need a third seamer, Akash Deep or Arshdeep Singh or someone else. Of course, Bumrah is a good bowler, but he wasn’t part of the matches that India won [in this series]. So, I don’t think they depend on him as much,” added Panesar, who picked 167 wickets for England in 50 Tests at an average of 34.71.