0-1 down, India face the Bumrah question ahead of Edgbaston Test

New Delhi: Will Jasprit Bumrah play in the second Test at Edgbaston? That is the biggest question facing the Indian team management as it looks to draw parity against England after losing the series opener from a commanding position at Leeds.

In his media interaction post the five-wicket loss on day five, head coach Gautam Gambhir made it clear that there will be no change in the workload of injury-prone pace spearhead Bumrah, who is slated to play three out of five Tests in the English summer.

With the first Test ending on June 24 and the next beginning on July 2, there is enough time for Bumrah to recover but only he knows best about his body.

Bumrah, the only bowler who consistently posed a challenge for the English batters, took a five-wicket haul in the first innings and delivered an overall 44.4 overs in the match.

A pace attack without Bumrah makes the opposition's task significantly easier and increases the Indian team's headache, over deciding which of the two remaining Tests its trump card could be a part of.

The management, thus, would have had a much easier decision to make had Shubman Gill and Co gone to Birmingham 1-0 up.

"That is a tough call indeed for the team management. He should ideally play when the series is alive but the management knows best on how to manage his workload," former India chief selector MSK Prasad told PTI.

A BCCI source added: "Bumrah has close to a week's gap between first and second Test. So the decision rests with chief selector Ajit Agarkar, Gautam Gambhir and Shubman Gill. They might assess him a day before the Test, and take a final call."

There is only a three-day gap between second and third Test, scheduled at Lord's from July 10-14, and therefore, Bumrah is certain to not feature in both the games.

"We won't change the plans," said Gambhir on Tuesday when asked whether the team management will push Bumrah to play four Tests.

"For us to manage his workload is more important because there's a lot of cricket going forward and we know what he brings on the table as well. Before he came on the tour, it was already decided that he's going to play three Test matches."

Edgbaston or Lord's? Gambhir and Co clearly have a tough call to make.