India captain Shubman Gill was asked if Jasprit Bumrah will feature in the upcoming Test series against West Indies or not, however he didn't make anything clear with his answer. Gill revealed that the team management is yet to take a call on Bumrah's participation and added that they will take a decision on game-to-game basis.
"We will take a call on match to match (basis), how long a game goes and how many overs a bowler bowls. Nothing is pre-decided," Gill said at the pre-match press-conference.
There has been a lot of debate over Bumrah's participation in the West Indies Test series especially after he recently featured for India in five out of their seven matches in Asia Cup. India can go on to rest Bumrah for the series so that he can properly manage his workload or can play him in one Test out of the two.
Ten Doeschate's verdict on Bumrah's participation
On the other hand, India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate had expressed confidence in Bumrah participating in West Indies Tests during the Asia Cup. He had remarked that the continental tournament will help the seamer in preparing well for the red-ball series against the Windies.
"Also bearing in mind we have a Test match starting on Thursday. So, it's actually quite good preparation in terms of workload management. He's probably going to bowl a few overs in all the games and bowl in the region of 25-26 overs with the training and the preparation going into the game, which is a fairly good number the week before a Test," ten Doeschate had said.
"So, if we have the luxury to have that option in the last game, we can look at it. But I'd say we're going to pick our best team for every game. He obviously fits into that picture...But we feel it's the right amount of work going into the Test match and obviously the importance of this competition as well," he added.
India and West Indies on WTC standings
Meanwhile, India's two-match Test series against West Indies will begin from October 2. This will be the second red-ball assignment for both teams in the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. India currently sit third on the WTC points table after their 2-2 series draw against England while West Indies are on the sixth place following their 0-3 series defeat against Australia.