Pant to Keep Wickets, India to Assess Bumrah's Workload After Pune Test, Gambhir

Rishabh Pant has "no injury concerns" and will carry the gloves for India while the team will decide on Jasprit Bumrah's workload after the second Test against New Zealand starting here on Thursday, said head coach Gautam Gambhir.

Pant copped a blow on the second day of the opening Test in Bengaluru and was replaced by Dhruv Jurel behind the wickets. Pant returned to score a fine century but did not keep wickets.

Pant had a hit at the nets and also had a wicket-keeping drill with Gambhir on Tuesday.

"Absolutely," Gambhir said on Wednesday when asked if everything was fine with the wicketkeeper-batter.

"I think he's going to keep wickets tomorrow. No other fitness concerns," he added.

Bumrah has played each of the three Tests at home this season and with the Australia tour less than a month away, India will decide on resting the ace fast bowler after the second Test.

"Once the series is over, we still have around 10 or 12 days before the Test starts in Australia. That is enough break for our fast bowlers as well. But we will still monitor after this Test match where Jasprit Bumrah is," Gambhir said.

"But it's not just about Jasprit Bumrah. It's about with all the fast bowlers as well. We want to keep them fresh. We know that obviously we have a long tour and an important tour of Australia.

"That would definitely depend on what the outcome of this Test match is and how much have they bowled in this match," he added.

Gambhir said that Shubman Gill, who had missed the Bengaluru Test with stiffness in his neck, will definitely play the game as the No. 3 batter has gained full match fitness.

"Shubman Gill is not coming into the side, he was already there. He got injured in the last match. It's not that he's a new bloke for us. Because of his injury, he didn't play the last match. He had a neck issue.
"With the way he batted against Bangladesh, he'll come back into the playing XI. The rest will be decided tomorrow," he said.

Gambhir underlined his coaching philosophy of putting more emphasis on wins even against all odds, as India staged a remarkable fightback in Bengaluru.

"This is why we call cricket and sports as big levellers. If you enjoyed such days as we did in Kanpur, then you will have to accept such days as we did in Bengaluru," he said.

"But the positive thing was that despite getting all out for 46, we were still looking to win the Test — that was important. This is the way we want to play cricket. I have said before that our first option will always be to win and the second option will be to draw."

"There was no such intention in the second innings that we were looking to play out the next two-and-a-half days. We were thinking about how to make the match out of it and if you ask me, we were probably 100 runs away," he added.

Gambhir said India showed the intent with which they want to play Test cricket in the opening match.

"I don't think there will be many teams who will be thinking like this even after being shot out for 46, when you have to bat more than two-and-a-half days but this is the quality and this is the kind of cricket we want to play in the future," he said.
Batting to save a Test not likely anymore: Gambhir feels T20 cricket has made batters more aggressive.

"To a certain extent it's good because when I batted in Napier, the T20 format was only just introduced," declared India's 2007 T20 World Cup winner.

"Now, with so much of T20 cricket around, you expect players to be more aggressive. The game has changed and we have to accept that as well. We will need a lot of temperament and a lot of mental toughness to bat for two or two-and-a-half days.".

"But again, if the decision of the leadership group or the team management is to just go there and still try to win the game, that is very important."

" Had we decided to bat two-and-a-half days, the guys would have batted much differently. But the intention was always to make the game out of it, irrespective of where we are how much behind we are in the game, " he added.