India 'leaning towards' playing Bumrah at Old Trafford

We return to the Jasprit Bumrah question once again: will India play him in the fourth Test against England in Manchester or will be rested until the final Test at The Oval? A definitive answer should come by the eve of the fourth Test, which begins on July 23, but on Thursday India hinted that they are "leaning" towards Bumrah playing at Old Trafford.

"No, we'll make that call [on Bumrah] in Manchester still," India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said after the squad's one-off training session in Beckenham before the visitors head to Manchester on Saturday. "We know we have got him for one of the last two Tests. It's pretty obvious that the series on the line now in Manchester so there will be a leaning towards playing him.

"But again, we have got to look at all the factors: how many days of cricket are we going to get up there, what do we feel is our best chance of winning that game, and then how that fits in together with The Oval. And looking at the last two games holistically as part of the series."

Bumrah arrived in England for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with a pre-determined plan, worked out in coordination with the BCCI medical staff, of playing only three out of the five Tests to safeguard his back, having undergone surgery on it in March. He sat out of the second Test at Edgbaston after featuring in the series-opener at Headingley where he picked up a five-for in the first innings and went wicketless in the second as England took a 1-0 lead. Bumrah not playing in Birmingham despite there being an eight-day break between the first two Tests attracted severe criticism, with former India coach Ravi Shastri telling Sky Cricket that the decision should be taken out of the player's hands with the team management taking the final call. Despite Bumrah's absence, India bounced back at Edgbaston to draw level at 1-1.

At Lord's, where England won a closely contested Test in the final session, Bumrah took seven wickets including another five-for in the first innings. With another eight-day break between the third and fourth Tests, the focus will be on Bumrah again. The challenge for India's team management is that they now need to focus on managing not just Bumrah's workload but also that of their second strike bowler Mohammed Siraj, the leading wicket-taker in this series with 13 at 32.00. Siraj has also bowled 109 overs, the fourth-biggest workload of any bowler in the series behind those of Shoaib Bashir, Chris Woakes and Ben Carse.

On Tuesday, all three fast bowlers who played for India at Lord's - Bumrah, Siraj and Akash Deep - did not bowl while doing their basic fitness routines. Siraj batted, however, and seemed to have recovered from the agony of the Lord's defeat, which was sealed when he defended Bashir off the middle of his bat only for the ball to roll back onto his stumps.

Rishabh Pant did not bat on Tuesday nor did he keep wickets, as he focused on light training. Pant is yet to recover completely from the injury he suffereded to his left index finger while diving to stop a ball down the leg side during England's first innings at Lord's. Though he batted in both innings, Pant did not keep wickets after suffering the injury, with Dhruv Jurel taking his place on the field.

There was no taping on Pant's index finger on Thursday, but while his injury is healing, any impact on the finger remains painful. Ten Doeschate said India were optimistic Pant would play in Manchester, with the only question being whether or not he would keep wickets.

"He [Pant] will bat in Manchester before the Test," ten Doeschate said. "Look, I don't think you're going to keep Rishabh out of the Test no matter what. He batted with quite a lot of pain in the third Test and it's only going to get easier and easier on his finger. And keeping's obviously the last part of the process to make sure that he can keep. We don't want to go through that again where we have to replace the keeper halfway through innings."

Does that mean India are potentially looking at having Jurel keep wickets with Pant playing exclusively as a batter? Ten Doeschate did not rule out that scenario. "Jurel's in the equation, but I mean obviously if Rishabh's fit, he plays the next Test and does both."

Meanwhile, left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh suffered a cut on one of his fingers on the bowling hand while intercepting the ball in his follow-through during training. Arshdeep walked out immediately and had his hand taped. Ten Doeschate said it was not clear yet whether Arshdeep would need stitches and how it would impact India's planning including whether Arshdeep will be in contention to play in Manchester. "We'll take a call on the combination we play, particularly given the Arshdeep situation as well. We'll make that call closer to Manchester."

With the regular fast bowlers resting and Arshdeep walking off, India bowling coach Morne Morkel stepped in to fill in the breach. Delivering from in front of the popping crease, the former South Africa fast bowler tested all the batters not just with the steep bounce he was famous for but also seam movement in both directions, forcing edges or prompting polite enquires for lbw.

India will travel to Manchester on July 19 and resume training on Sunday.