India Weighing Bumrah Selection, Eye Two-Spinner Gamble at Edgbaston

India have no fitness concerns around Jasprit Bumrah, but they're still deciding whether to play him at Edgbaston. The management is considering holding Bumrah back due to the tight turnaround to the third Test at Lord's.

"Bumrah is ready to play," said assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate. "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."

India are also considering playing two spinners on a pitch with patchy grass but dryness underneath. This puts Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar in the fray to partner Ravindra Jadeja.

"It's just which two we play," ten Doeschate said. "And that goes back to juggling the batting depth… So there are so many different variables."

The team is reluctant to sacrifice batting depth, which is at odds with captain Shubman Gill's pre-series statement that he was willing to field four tail-enders in pursuit of 20 wickets.

"We have discussed playing four tailenders," ten Doeschate said. "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."

The allrounder slot is a direct shoot-out between Washington and Nitish Kumar Reddy, India's centurion from the Boxing Day Test last December. Nitish was actively involved in the slip cordon at training and is close to getting a game.

"He's very close to getting a game," ten Doeschate said. "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."