India ponder Bumrah call as sore Stokes vows to play decider
India coach Gautam Gambhir has declared pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and his entire pace bowling attack fit for the final Test against England that commences at The Oval on Thursday.
India face a selection dilemma of sorts ahead of the fifth and final Test against England at The Oval as they attempt to square the five-match series and remain in touch with the early pacesetters in the new ICC World Test Championship cycle.
This means Bumrah may be included for the series decider in south London, despite the fact the No.1 ranked bowler on the ICC Men's Test Bowling Rankings has already featured in three Tests across the series and met the desired workloads the team set for him prior to the series.
It also means injured duo Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are fit and available for the contest, with Gambhir revealing after the draw in the fourth Test in Manchester that India will have a full quota of quicks to choose from in London.
"All the fast bowlers are fit," Gambhir said.
"There are no injury concerns.
"We haven't had any conversation around the combination for the last Test.
"No decision has been made on whether Jasprit Bumrah will play or not. Ultimately, whoever plays, they will try and do the job for the country."
India skipper Shubman Gill was also quizzed on whether Bumrah would play at The Oval and the young captain suggested the right-armer would be considered for the series finale.
"If he (Bumrah) feels like he's fully fit and available for us, I think it would be a great deal for us," Gill told the BBC.
"If he's not playing, I still think we have the right kind of bowling attack."
India may be tempted to include Bumrah in their XI for the Oval Test, with a victory at the iconic London venue meaning the five-match series would end 2-2 and would also keep the team in touch with the leaders on the World Test Championship standings.
The side will also be keen to collect some more points in the new World Test Championship cycle, with Gill's team currently sitting in fourth place on the standings with a percentage of just 33.33 percent through four matches.
India have already announced keeper Rishabh Pant will miss the fifth Test due to a foot injury, with uncapped back-up Narayan Jagadeesan added to the squad and in contention to feature in the series finale.
England too will be tossing up whether to tinker with their XI for The Oval Test, with Gus Atkinson, Sam Cook, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue all a chance to be included should the side decide to rest star pacer Jofra Archer or first-choice duo Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse.
Skipper Ben Stokes has been England's best bowler across the first four matches of the series despite some ongoing injury ailments, but the inspirational captain suggested he would be fit to take the field in the series decider with the side's next Test after the London showdown not until the opening clash of the Ashes series against Australia in November.
"It's been a pretty big workload so far in the series," Stokes admitted.
"I had a big week last week at Lord's, with time spent out in the middle with bat in hand and obviously overs bowled, and then same again this week. I said it a few times to the guys out there: 'Pain is just an emotion.' It's just one of those things.
"It is actually my bicep tendon. It obviously had quite a lot of workload through it, just been creeping around. But yeah, (I have spent) a lot of time out in the middle doing my job as an all-rounder this week and (it) just got a little bit flared up. It didn't get any worse throughout the day, just stayed the same, so that's why I kept on going.
"Hopefully, it settles down and we'll be good as gold for the last game...I don't want to eat my words, but the likelihood that I won't play is very unlikely."
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, and India has best record in this venue
