India’s assistant coach provides key update on Jasprit Bumrah’s availability for 2nd ENG vs IND 2025 Test

India's assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said that fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was available for the second Test against England at Edgbaston, starting on Wednesday, July 2. However, he added that a decision on whether the 31-year-old would feature in the playing XI was yet to be made.

Ten Doeschate said that India were considering factors such as weather and the surface used for the match before taking a call on whether to include Bumrah in the playing XI or not.

"He's available for the game, obviously. We know from the start that he's only going to play three out of the five (Test matches). He's obviously had eight days to recover from the last Test. But given conditions, workload and how we think we can best manage for the next four games we have not made a call on that.

"Technically yes he's available but we haven't made a decision on whether he's going to play or not yet," Ten Doeschate said at a press conference on Monday, June 30 (via India Today).

"With Bumrah, he is ready to play. 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. But I'm talking about the weather, how the pitch is going to play. Are we better off holding him back for Lord's and maybe Manchester or the Oval? So it's all those factors," he added.

Ten Doeschate admitted that it was very tempting to include Bumrah in the playing XI to try and make it 1-1 in the five-match series. However, he said that India needed to be careful not to become over-reliant on him to help win matches. He said:

"It is tempting, but we also feel we can go 1-1 or keep the score at 1-0 without Jasprit. That's putting the eggs in the back end of the series. We're going to need him at some stage as well. You've got to decide when you're going to play your strongest suit. We feel that whatever we put out there, we can compete in this Test match. We came pretty close without Jasprit in the second half. He didn't get any wickets.

"But you can't win the Test series with just one bowler in any case. And the bowlers are very well aware of that, that they need to chip in with wickets. Sorry, I can't give you a more firm answer. But we'll work out in the next 24 hours how we're going to manage Jasprit."

India look to ring in the changes in a bid to level the five-Test series at Edgbaston

After poor fielding cost India the first Test against England at Leeds, there were visible changes to the fielding drills at Birmingham on Monday, June 30. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a tough game in the slip cordon in the series opener, was replaced by Sai Sudharsan in the slip cordon.

The opening batter was seen doing drills for short leg/silly point position as India tried to work out their best combination in the slip cordon and put in an improved performance in the field in the second Test.