India's Shubman Gill during the press conference.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Birmingham: Shubman Gill was expectedly bombarded with questions about ace fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for the second Test and which of the two spinners India would play, but the young captain chose to keep the cards close to his chest, dead-batting everything in a composed manner.
“Bumrah bhai is definitely available, we just want to see how to manage this workload in the upcoming Test matches and yes, we are trying to find the right combination where we can take 20 wickets and score runs as well on these kinds of wickets. We just thought we are going to have a final look today once we come to the ground and see what kind of combination that we want to go with tomorrow,” Gill said at the pre-match press conference here on Tuesday.
Gill though hinted that India could go with two spinners, echoing assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate’s thoughts. “Usually, we don't see two spinners playing together in England. But the weather has been different, it has not rained enough this summer and the sun has been shining a lot. In the last match, I felt that if we had an extra spinner in the fourth innings, the game could have been better. There were a few patches in the wicket that we could have exploited.
“Whenever Jaddu bhai (Ravindra Jadeja) was bowling, it felt like chances were being created. And we felt that it was easier for the spinners to contain runs than fast bowlers, especially when the ball gets old. It doesn’t swing after 30-40 overs. The wickets are also good for batting. So, if the fast bowlers are not able to create as many chances for the spinners, then we feel that a second spinner on these kinds of wickets won’t be a bad option. If you are going with an extra spinner, the only thing that you have to see is how do you manage him on day one if you are bowling on day one,” said Gill without revealing which two will feature in the playing XI.
Gill acknowledged that India fluffed the lines at Leeds but is confident of the team turning it around at Edgbaston. “We were on top of our game for four days and the last day didn't go as planned. There was a little bit of disappointment for sure, but there were a lot of positives as well. And it also gives you the confidence that we were very close. There were some key moments in the game where I felt we could have really nailed it and maybe batted England out of the game. Or we could have left the losing snag out of the game and it could have been a draw or a win for us.
“You never go into a Test match thinking you want to go for a draw or you want to go out there experimenting something. We want to make sure that we play the best combination possible for that situation. And we definitely want to win this Test match and the series,” added Gill.