Jasprit Bumrah will return to red ball cricket for India A in the third unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Lincoln, starting on Saturday, 7 November. Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja have joined the India A squad for the four day match at Bert Sutcliffe Oval, as part of their preparation for the two match Test series against New Zealand. Bumrah has not played Test cricket since November 2025, and the Lincoln fixture gives him match overs before the senior series begins on 19 November.
Jasprit Bumrah has been rested through the white ball legs of the New Zealand tour so he can prepare for the Tests. He trained with the India A squad for two days after arriving in the country, and the team management sees the Lincoln match as the right place to test his rhythm, workload and fitness in seam friendly conditions. His last competitive outing came in the Asian Games final on 3 October, when India won the gold medal.
Bumrah did not feature in the ODI series opener at Eden Park in Auckland on 4 November, as he was rested for the 50 over matches to prepare for the Tests. The selectors have kept him out of the white ball games on this tour, and the Lincoln match is the first time he will bowl in a match since the Asian Games final. The break has been part of a careful plan to manage his workload before the two Tests in New Zealand.
Jasprit Bumrah builds towards the Test series
Jasprit Bumrah has been managed carefully since his last Test, with time at the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru as part of his return to play work. He travelled to New Zealand on 1 November after completing the required process, and he has been training in Lincoln with the India A group. The four day match runs from 7 to 10 November, and it is his first red ball outing in almost a year.
Jasprit Bumrah will have Ravindra Jadeja for company in Lincoln. Rishabh Pant will miss the fixture as he continues to recover from a side strain, and he is in rehab at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. His absence casts doubt over his availability for the Test series, and Tilak Varma has joined the India A squad in Lincoln as his replacement. Jadeja comes into the match after two Ranji Trophy outings for Saurashtra, in which he took seven wickets and scored a century.
Jasprit Bumrah and Jadeja join India A in Lincoln
India A are playing a three match unofficial series against New Zealand A on the shadow tour, with the first two games held in late October and early November. The third match returns to Lincoln, and Jasprit Bumrah will lead the senior bowlers in the side. Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill will not feature in the red ball game, as it clashes with the second and third ODIs of the tour.
The two match Test series starts at Basin Reserve in Wellington on 19 November, with the second Test at Hagley Oval in Christchurch from 27 November to 1 December. It is India’s first Test series in New Zealand since 2020, when the hosts won 2-0 just before global sport stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic. Only Gill, Jasprit Bumrah, Pant and Jadeja from that touring party are in the current squad, and the Lincoln match is the last step in the build up for the pace attack.
Jasprit Bumrah leads a settled pace attack
Jasprit Bumrah leads a Test squad that also has Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep among the pace options, with Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar in the spin group. The series is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle, and the Lincoln fixture gives the management a final look at its senior bowlers in New Zealand conditions. The first Test in Wellington is 12 days after the India A match ends, and the squad will travel there once the Lincoln game is done.