India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has all but confirmed Nitish Reddy's chances of playing the 2nd Test match at Edgbaston. Doeschate said that Nitish did not play the previous game because the team thought that they needed stronger bowling options.
00:00Cameras, good to go? Guys, session coach Ryan Chandrushka is with us. As usual, we'll take one question at a time. We'll take questions from here first, and then we'll move on there.
00:13Do you want to go first here, please? Ryan, can you give some clarity on Pumrah's availability for the game?
00:20Yeah, he's available for the game. Obviously, we know from the start he's only going to play three out of the five. He's obviously had eight days to recover from the last test.
00:28But given conditions and workload, and how we think we can best manage for the next four games, we haven't made a call on that.
00:35We're going to see where the other guys are with their workload as well. So technically, yes, he is available, but we haven't made a decision on whether he's going to play or not yet.
00:41Hi, Coach. Coach, we saw a new look slip cordon after the last game. Today at the practice, Mithish and Sai joining the fourth slip and gunny position.
00:50And Yashasvi having a separate drill along with head coach and yourself. Can you describe what's the plan going on with the slip cordon?
00:57Is it because of the last match or is it the team trying to do something?
01:01Look, I think we always want depth in the catching department. In England, you're always going to have four catches at some stage in the game.
01:07Yashasvi has been a very good catcher for us. We want to manage his confidence.
01:12There's also an argument for the short leg, you know, being a very important position, particularly if we are going to play two spinners.
01:18And we want to put more guys in that position. So I think the more versatile guys in the fielding unit, the more guys can do more jobs.
01:24And maybe just give Yashasvi a break from catching in the gully for a little while. His hands are quite sore. We want to get his confidence back up.
01:32Ryan, can you tell about the wicket? You guys have a long chat about it. And the second part of it is that, are you surprised?
01:41Because KL said in the first match press conference that at the very last part of the test match, he think that, yes, we are playing in England.
01:49Before that, it was, you know, weather-wise, quite subcontinent kind of conditions. So can you talk about it?
01:55Are you surprised the kind of wickets, the kind of weather here and the kind of, you know, assistance the bowlers are getting from the wicket?
02:02I don't think the cleverest people in the world can tell you about the weather in England. It's very varied.
02:07But obviously the summers can be hot here. And the last four or five weeks has been incredibly hot.
02:12I also think England's style, the way they have played, it suits them to put on good wickets. So I'm not surprised that the wickets have been good so far.
02:18That surface there looks quite dry underneath. It looks like it's going to play well. It's got 11 miles on at the moment.
02:23But I see what KL means. You know, you come to England, you expect the ball to swing and seam all over the show.
02:28But that hasn't been the case in county cricket as well. The batch of balls is very dependent on how much the wicket does as well.
02:34And look, that Headingley wicket was a very good wicket. They got better and better. And we're kind of assuming the same from what we've seen at the first clip of this wicket.
02:42And just one day to the game, you said that you haven't made up your mind yet as a group with regards to Bumrah.
02:48But how close or far is he from the game? And if there are any hindrances on that front?
02:53Like what's the discussion like with regards to Bumrah? Is the body not in the shape you want it to be?
02:58Or do you want him to be preserved for probably the Lords game? And second, is there a case for Kuldeep considering how hot it is here and how the county games have been in build up to the test?
03:09Yeah, so with Bumrah, he is ready to play. So like I said in the very first question, it's how we manage these four tests.
03:16So if we feel like there's value in playing him in this test, we'll make that call at the very last minute.
03:21But I'm talking about how the pitch is going to play. Are we better off holding him back for Lords and maybe Manchester or the Oval?
03:28So it's all those factors. But you've seen him train yesterday, he trained a little bit today.
03:33It's not like he's not fit to play. It's just trying to, you know, fit those puzzle pieces to get the most out of him, out of what we know we do have from him.
03:41And your question about Kuldeep? You know, we'd love to get him into the team, playing two all-rounders in the last game.
03:50We were desperate. It would have been nice to have a spin in the last game.
03:53Also, we're trying to make the best assessment of what we see in front of us.
03:56So we know we're going to need three seamers in this game.
03:58And it's just how you guys are going to play that role and whether we can fit Kuldeep in now or again saving for later in the series,
04:06where if the weather stays, like I said, it should turn somewhere along the line.
04:10Ryan, you talked about the number 6-7. There has been a concern in the last test match, both the enics.
04:17So considering that, how far is Nitesh ready from getting a game now?
04:23We've seen he's gone through an intensive net session as well.
04:27And we're feeling the slipcord as well. So how far is he from getting a game now?
04:35He's very close to getting a game. Obviously, he was fantastic in Australia.
04:38You know, coming into the team and playing the way he did.
04:41We just felt on balance for the last game, we wanted to go at the bowling all-rounder,
04:45which we thought Chaudill was likely hit on the bowling front.
04:48And we're looking at ways of rejigging the puzzle here so we can get a batting all-rounder in.
04:52And obviously, Nitesh is our premium batting all-rounder at the moment.
04:55So I would say he's a very good chance to play this test.
05:00Ryan, during the net session we saw a few bowlers holding a half red ball and a half right ball.
05:04Can you just tell us something about that and the logic and the science?
05:08Yeah, it's not a new contraption. All the ball manufacturers make those balls.
05:12And we talk about detox and the bowlers just getting the very basics right.
05:15And that's the easiest way to give you an indication.
05:18You know, guys have come out of a long RPL season and the filthy habits of that cricket.
05:23We don't want that creeping into red ball cricket, into test cricket.
05:26So Mourne and the bowlers just use that tool just to make sure the basic fundamentals are in place.
05:30We've been using it for the last two weeks. It's not a new thing.
05:33As disappointing as the people in the last game was, how important is it to not make the media of the actions
05:39and to sort of keep the plate with you when you start with it?
05:42It's very important. I think for everyone, you know, you don't mind being totally outplayed in a test match and you lose.
05:48We felt like we exhausted everything. We felt like we were really good in the majority of those sessions.
05:53But unfortunately, the two sessions that we lost, we lost really, really badly.
05:57So, you know, we feel like we played four days of good cricket and we've lost that game in the end.
06:01So we're not going to get too down on it.
06:03But it's absolutely imperative that we stay focused on the whole goal of the five games and there's four to go.
06:09And we just need to be at our best and give ourselves the best chance to win a test match here this week.
06:14Ryan, ever since the start of Australia, given you all don't have a proper single bowling all-rounder,
06:21you have kind of, you know, juggled batting depth as against trying to go for 20 wickets.
06:28Is it like after the last test, wickets still fell in the lower rounder?
06:35How close are you or have you discussed just going in with four tail-enders and just going all out for 20 wickets?
06:42We have. And, you know, when you're 430 for three, it's absolutely 500.
06:48When you're 200 for five, it's a very different ball game.
06:50So in terms of, you know, managing the strategy there, we're looking at each bowler individually,
06:55feeling what we feel they can get wickets wise.
06:58And then it's just trying to balance up and, you know, trying to calculate as best you can what the best chance of,
07:03A, getting into the test match, but like you say, you need 20 wickets.
07:06So the attacking part is obviously finding someone who can get wickets as well.
07:10And we grappling with that. We don't stop talking about that. We're trying to figure it out.
07:14Last few.
07:15Ryan, A, you must have had a look at the wicket. What's the wicket like?
07:21And is there a possibility to play two spinners on this track?
07:25Yeah, that's a great question. There's a very strong chance of playing two spinners.
07:29It's just which two we play. And that goes back to the previous question about,
07:32juggling the batting depth. All three spinners are bowling very nicely.
07:36Washi's batting very nicely. So it's just which combination.
07:39Do we go with the all-rounder spinner or the out-and-out spinner?
07:41And obviously you have to play the bowling all-rounder again.
07:43So there's so many different variables. The wicket's got 11 mils on at the moment.
07:4711 or 12. I can't remember which of the two. But it's quite grassy and patchy.
07:51It's quite dry underneath. But there's also rain forecast for Wednesday.
07:55So again, trying to weigh up the two options of how we want to go attacking-wise.
08:01But I'm pretty sure two spinners will play in this test.
08:04Last talk.
08:05Ryan, 1-1, anything is possible. We know how close the teams are because of Hellingley was a really close test match.
08:12So 1-1, anything is possible. 2-0, it's a long way back.
08:15In that sense, is it tempting just to play Jaspreet Kummeral because of the difference it might make to the stage of the centre of the series?
08:23It is. But we also feel we can go 1-1 or keep the score at 1-0 without Jaspreet.
08:28And then, again, that's putting the eggs in the back end of the series.
08:31We're going to need him at some stage as well. You know, you've got to decide when you're going to play your strongest suit.
08:35And that's what I was talking about, about the weather and all that.
08:38But we feel that whatever we put out there, we can compete in this test match.
08:42And, you know, we came pretty close without Jaspreet in the second inning.
08:45He didn't get any wickets. But you can't win the test series with just one bowler in any case.
08:49And the bowlers are very well aware that they need to chip in with wickets.
08:52So, sorry, I can't give you a more firm answer.
08:56But, yeah, we'll work out in the next 24 hours how we're going to manage Jaspreet.
09:02One more question.
09:04Alright, is there a chance of Ashdeep carrying a game here for a little bit of left-down variety in the team attack?
09:10There is. I think I've said yes to every single player.
09:13There is. You know, again, going back to the spin combination, if we are going to go to spinners,
09:21Ashdeep obviously provides a little bit more control.
09:24And you've got a left-armer running in over the wickets.
09:27You know, if we do want to put our eggs in that basket.
09:29I don't know if you saw the seamers. They all had a good trot-out today.
09:32We feel that they're all there and thereabouts.
09:34And they're all eligible for selection.
09:36So, again, looking over the five series, how are we going to manage the five seamers that we do have,
09:41the out-and-out seamers, but Ashdeep is definitely in the selection expo for this test.
