Birmingham: Less than 24 hours before the second Test, India captain Shubman Gill said the team management has not yet locked in a combination that allows them to take 20 wickets and score runs on potentially flat wickets in the unusually hot English summer.
Gill also did not commit to premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah playing at Edgbaston despite being “available for selection”.
The clarity, however, was provided on his preference for a second spinner over a pacer especially with the old Dukes ball making run scoring a lot easier for the opposition.
“Bumrah bhai is definitely available. We are trying to find the right combination where we can take 20 wickets and score runs as well on these kind 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 on the eve of the second Test.
“Our first priority would always be on these kind of wickets, how we can get 20 wickets rather than playing that extra batter,” he added.
India missed a second spinner on day five at Leeds and they seem to have made up their mind to add either Washington Sundar or Kuldeep Yadav to the playing eleven alongside Ravindra Jadeja.
“It is not usual to play two spinners here but we have not had typical weather here. There has not been enough rain. In the last match also, we felt that if we had an extra spinner in the 4th innings, the game could have been better,” said Gill.