India vs West Indies: ‘Nothing is pre-decided’ says Shubman Gill on Bumrah’s availability

In recent times, Indian pitches have mostly been spin-friendly. And on more than one occasion, even Indian batters, traditionally good players of spin bowling, have found the going tough.

On Wednesday (October 1, ahead of the first Test versus the West Indies at the Narendra Modi Stadium, skipper Shubman Gill, who will be leading the side for the first time at home, expressed a preference for more sporting wickets.

“I can’t speak about the conversations before I came, but we would be looking to play on wickets that offer something to both batters and the bowlers,” Gill said. “Having said that, for any team that comes to India, the challenge is [countering] spin and reverse swing.

“If teams can play spin well and if they can challenge the reverse swing, they are going to get good success. So keeping these challenges in mind, you’d be looking to play on wickets that offer something to the batsmen and the bowlers,” the 26-year-old added.

The turf at Ahmedabad has appeared greener than usual, which means the Indian think tank will have a selection dilemma. Gill has four first-rate spinners at his disposal – Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar – and a fiery pace attack comprising Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.

“We have such quality in our team… someone like Kuldeep, such a wicket-taker for us in all formats, didn’t get a chance to play in England, which was very unfortunate. But [if you are] playing four spinners, and spinners of such quality, you are always tempted to look at the batting depth. You have to just weigh in your options… what can give you a bit more.”

Chief among the decisions will be about Bumrah’s game time. The premier pacer played just three of five Tests in England as the team management had to manage his workload keeping in mind his tender back.

“We’re going to take a call on a match-to-match basis depending on how long a Test match goes on and how many overs our fast bowlers bowl,” Gill said. “Nothing is pre-decided. We’re going to take the call once the Test match is over and how our fast bowlers feel and how their bodies feel.”

India’s last home series ended in a humiliating 0-3 reverse to New Zealand less than 12 months ago. But the 2-2 draw away in England has seemingly stabilised the ship.

“We are looking to play some hard, grinding cricket,” Gill stated. “Over the past few years, if you see the Test matches, they haven’t gone to five days. So what we are looking to do is play some good, hard cricket.”

“All the Test matches that we played in England went pretty deep. What you can expect from us is good, hard, grinding cricket and we won’t be looking for any easy options.

“We have the skills to dominate in any kind of situation, and the kind of talent we have got in the team, we can turn around from any situation.”