With series on the line, star pacer likely to be pencilled in for fourth Test after Arshdeep injures bowling handLONDON: The Indian team arrived at the Kent county ground in a very relaxed mood here on Thursday. It’s a pretty little ground and the players were here to just keep in touch with the game after the draining Test match at Lord’s, which finished last Monday. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep and Rishabh Pant skipped the nets and just had a light gym session. The others went through low-intensity drills. The focus was on Bumrah as usual. Captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir were the only two people on the park locked in an intense discussion.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Bumrah and his workload have been the biggest talking point on this tour. With the next Test match in Manchester still six days away and the series on the line, the Indian team management may be looking at ways to get Bumrah ready for the fourth match of the series. Bumrah is currently like the precious bullet which the Indian team can fire only once in the next two matches.
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Should Jasprit Bumrah play in the fourth Test despite his workload concerns?
“We know we’ve got him for only one of the last two Tests. It’s obvious the series is on the line in Manchester, so there will be a leaning towards playing him,” India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said after the practice session. “We’ve 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 how does that fit in together with the Oval and looking at the last two games holistically as part of the series?”
What may add to the concerns of the team management is that reserve pacer Arshdeep Singh injured his hand in practice on Thursday. He is suspected to have split the webbing on his bowling hand after he stopped a shot from Sai Sudharsan in the nets. Arshdeep’s left hand was seen heavily strapped and the medical team is monitoring the situation. With Prasidh Krishna looking off-colour in the first two Test matches, the team management may have been tempted to look at Arshdeep as a backup option for Bumrah.“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,” Ten Doeschate said. In such a situation, Mohammed Siraj’s role is vital. Siraj has carried the India attack on his shoulders with lengthy spells in all of the three Test matches. Managing him becomes all the more crucial now. “He’s not someone who’s going to shy away from workload, so it makes it even more important for us to manage his workload and make sure that he’s at least fit to give his best,” Ten Doeschate added.
Bumrah’s workload management has been up for debate since the day it was announced that he would be available for only three out of the five Tests on this tour. England captain Ben Stokes’ monumental spell on the final day of the Lord’s Test gave the workload management debate a new twist, especially since Stokes himself has gone through a spate of injuries in the past few years.“We’re not here to compare our bowlers to individuals from other teams. We have our own strengths. We know what Jasprit does in shorter spells, which he prefers bowling,” Ten Doeschate said. “Some bowlers are like Siraj and Stokes. You get the best out of them in their seventh, eighth and ninth over, but not everyone has to be the same as that,” he added.Stokes himself had highlighted that Jofra Archer wouldn’t have been picked if they didn’t feel he would be able to go through a Test with full intensity at any point of a Test match. The Indian team will have a big call to make in the next few days. If they are short of bowling options with Arshdeep injured and Prasidh not in form, there will be a lot of work going into making Bumrah play in Manchester.
Pant to play at Old TraffordTen Doeschate also confirmed that Rishabh Pant will play in Manchester. However, the team will have to see if he is capable of keeping wickets. Pant had injured his left index finger while wicketkeeping on the second day of the third Test at Lord’s. “He will play. Dhruv Jurel is also in the running. We don’t want a situation where Pant has to be pulled out midway through the match. We just need to see if he can keep wickets,” he said.
