India to make the Bumrah call 'at the very last minute'

Jasprit Bumrah is fit and available for the second Test against England, but India are not giving away whether he will play at Edgbaston, given he is likely to feature in only three of the five fixtures in the series.

India are also all but certain to play two spinners at Edgbaston, given the patchy grass on the pitch, which is dry underneath. The second spinner, though, could be offspin allrounder Washington Sundar as India seem worried about batting depth.

"Bumrah is ready to play," India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said two days before the Edgbaston Test. "It's how we manage these four Tests. So if we feel like there's value in playing him in this Test, we'll make that call at the very last minute. 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 you've seen him train yesterday, he trained a little bit today. It's not like he's not fit to play. It's just trying to fit those puzzle pieces to get the most out of what we know we do have from him."

The weather forecasts in England are best not taken as gospel, but there is rain predicted on days one, four and five. There is a chance, given the flat nature of pitches in England of late, that the weather might not leave the teams enough time for a result. Keeping that in mind, India could be thinking of preserving Bumrah for later in the series.

They also believe the dry nature of the pitch brings their slower bowlers into play. "It's just which two we play," ten Doeschate said. "And that goes back to juggling the batting depth. All three spinners are bowling very nicely. Washi is batting very nicely. So it's just which combination do we go with? The allrounder-spinner or the out-and-out spinner? And obviously you have to play the bowling allrounder again.

"So there are so many different variables. The wicket has got 11 mils [mm of grass] at the moment, 11 or 12, I can't remember which of the two, but it's quite grassy and patchy. It's quite dry underneath, but there's also rain forecast for Wednesday, so again trying to weigh up the two options of how we want to go attack-wise, but I'm pretty sure two spinners will play in this Test."

At the start of the series, captain Shubman Gill had said he was prepared to play four tailenders to go for 20 wickets as cheaply as possible, but ten Doeschate seemed to suggest that was easier said than done. When asked how seriously they considered that option, given the struggles with team balance since the start of the Australia tour, ten Doeschate said: "We have [discussed playing four tailenders]. And when you're 430 for 3, it's absolutely fine, but when you're 200 for 5, it's a very different ball game.

"So, in terms of managing the strategy there, we're looking at each bowler individually, what we feel they can get wickets wise, and then it's just trying to balance up and trying to calculate as best you can what the best chance of getting into the Test match, but you need 20 wickets. So the attacking part is obviously finding someone who can get wickets as well, and we are grappling with that. We don't stop talking about that. We're trying to figure it out."

After Yashasvi Jaiswal dropped three catches at Headingley, India rejigged their slip cordon during their practice sessions in Birmingham. The first three slips were the same - Karun Nair, KL Rahul and Gill - but Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy alternated at fourth slip and gully. Ten Doeschate said the change had nothing to do with Headingley but was about developing all-round fielders, freeing Jaiswal for short-leg practice. However, he did say Reddy was back in contention. Shardul Thakur, preferred to Reddy in Leeds, ended up bowling only 16 overs and didn't contribute with the bat.

"He's [Reddy] very close to getting a game," ten Doeschate said. "Obviously, he was fantastic in Australia, coming into the team and playing the way he did. We just felt that on balance, for the last game, we wanted to go with the bowling allrounder, which we thought Shardul was slightly ahead on the bowling front. We're looking at ways of rejigging the puzzle here so we can get a batting allrounder in and obviously Nitish is our premium batting allrounder at the moment. So I would say he's a very good chance to play this Test."

Not having a proper seam-bowling allrounder has been a headache for India, who have not had success juggling batting depth and bowling penetration. The unfortunate condition of Bumrah playing only three Tests due to workload management complicates the issue. When asked whether there was a temptation to play Bumrah at Edgbaston because 2-0 can be extremely difficult to come back from, ten Doeschate said: "It is, but we also feel we can go 1-1 or keep the score at 1-0 without Jasprit, and then 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 have got to decide when you're going to play your strongest suit.

"And that's what I was talking about the weather and all that, but we feel that whatever we put out there, we can compete in this Test match, and you know, we came pretty close without Jasprit in the second innings when he didn't get any wickets, and you can't win the Test series with just one bowler in any case, and the bowlers are very well aware they need to chip in with wickets. Sorry, I can't give you a more firm answer, but we'll work out in the next 48 or 24 hours how we're going to manage Jasprit."