Call it gamesmanship or mental warfare, India are not willing to make it known if Jasprit Bumrah will play the second Test against England at Edgbaston from Wednesday.
Bumrah didn’t bowl in the nets on Friday, but on Saturday, he went full tilt. He bowled on Monday too, but the team management was non-committal on his participation. The final call on his involvement in the game has been left to Bumrah and he will take a call after assessing how his body is going into the Test. India had taken a day off from practice on Sunday.
The fast bowler claimed a five-for in the first innings of the first Test in Leeds. India’s most valuable player is slated to play only three of the five matches as part of his workload management.
Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said in Birmingham on Monday that Bumrah’s availability will be decided in the next 24 hours, while announcing that they are sure to field two spinners having had a look at the wicket and the conditions.
Bumrah bowled with a two-coloured ball (red and white) at the start before picking up the Dukes ball towards the end of the session.
“He’s available for the game, obviously. We know from the start he’s only
going to play three out of the five. He’s had eight days to recover from the last Test,”
Ten Doeschate said at a news conference.
“But given conditions and workload and how we think we can best manage for the next four games, we haven’t made a call on that. We’re going to see what the other guys are with their workload as well.
“If we feel like there’s value in playing him in this Test, we’ll make that call at the very last minute. But I’m talking about weather, how the pitch is going to play... Are we better off holding him back for Lord’s and maybe Manchester or The Oval? So it’s all those factors.”
But isn’t it tempting to include Bumrah, given India are trailing in the series?
“It is, but we also feel we can go 1-1 or keep the score at 1-0 without Jasprit. Again, that’s putting the eggs in the back end of the series. We’re going to need him at some stage as well. You’ve got to decide when you’re going to play your strongest suit.
“We came pretty close without Jasprit in the second half (in Leeds). He didn’t get any wickets. But you can’t win the Test series with just one bowler in any case... Sorry, I can’t give you a firmer answer, but we’ll work out in the next 24 hours how.”
Kuldeep Yadav getty images
India missed a second spinner in Leeds, especially in the second innings, and with the conditions expected to be similar in Birmingham, India are toying with the idea of playing either Washington Sundar or Kuldeep Yadav.
“There is a very strong chance of playing two spinners. It’s just which two we play. And that goes back to the previous question about juggling the batting depth. All three spinners are bowling very nicely,” Ten Doeschate said. “Washi’s batting very nicely. So it’s just which combination do we go with?”
However, Nitish Kumar Reddy is expected to come in place of Shardul Thakur,
who failed with the bat and took two wickets in the second innings.
Slip cordon rejig
The think-tank is also considering a rejig of their slip cordon after Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped four catches in the first Test.
The slip cordon during training on Monday included Karun Nair, KL Rahul, captain Shubman Gill, while Reddy and Sai Sudharsan were switching between fourth slip and gully.
