LONDON: Jasprit Bumrah is a weapon India must use sparingly but with the five-Test series against England on the line, the tourists are considering playing their pace spearhead in the fourth test in Manchester next week.

The team management has decided that Bumrah, whose workload has been carefully managed since he returned from a back surgery earlier this year, will play three of the five Tests in England.

A victory in Manchester would give England an unassailable 3-1 lead. To prevent that, India are considering playing Bumrah, who skipped the second test in Birmingham, in the next match rather than preserving him for the final test at the Oval.

“We know we have got him for one of the last two Tests,” assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters after a training session on Thursday. “It’s pretty obvious that the series is on the line now in Manchester, so there will be a leaning towards playing him.

“But again, we have got to look at all the factors: how many days of cricket are we going to get up there, what do we feel is our best chance of winning that game, and then how that fits in together with the Oval.”

Arguably the best all-format bowler of his era, Bumrah registered five-wicket hauls in both the Tests he played on this tour of England, though India lost both in Leeds and Lord’s.

India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who suffered a finger injury at Lord’s, did not bat in Thursday’s practice.

Ten Doeschate was confident Pant will reprise his usual roles in front of the stumps with the bat and behind them with the keeper’s gloves in Manchester.

“Look, I don’t think you’re going to keep Rishabh out of the test no matter what,” former Dutch international ten Doeschate said. “He batted with quite a lot of pain in the third test and it’s only going to get easier and easier on his finger.”

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2025