India clarify reasons for Bumrah omission for series finale

India maintain they made the correct decision to leave Jasprit Bumrah out of their XI for the fifth and final Test against England and use of the star pacer in just three matches across the five-game series.

Bumrah was a notable omission from the India XI for the series decider at The Oval, with the side opting to stick to their original plan of playing their key quick in just three matches across the crucial ICC World Test Championship series.

While India would have loved to have had Bumrah at their disposal for the series finale, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate suggested the long-term future of the No.1 ranked Test bowler was more important than any single Test match.

"It's quite a complex issue around Bumrah," ten Doeschate said after India reached 204/6 at stumps after a rain-affected first day in London.

"We obviously want to wheel him in, but we also want to respect where his body's at, and on the basis of that, we just felt that it wasn't worth including him in the squad.

"He has bowled a large number of overs, I know it doesn't always seem like that because he's only played three Tests and he only bowled in one innings in Manchester.

"But if you look at the loads, he's bowled a lot of overs, and like he did say coming into the tour, he was going to be available for three games, and we just felt it was right to honour that call."

The sight of seam-friendly conditions at The Oval would have made the decision even tougher to leave Bumrah out and ten Doeschate said there was no exact science to consider when choosing which matches the fast bowler would sit out across the five-game series.

"Every time I've answered this question I've spoken about like putting the pieces of the puzzles together and guys were baffled when we didn't play him in the third Test, and our thinking yeah was that The Oval, yes it's got bounce but it's normally a fairly good wicket for batting on, and we thought we'd roll the dice and if we'd won the toss we would have bowled," he added.

"In hindsight you would have loved to have him here, but you would also have said if we come here 3-1 down that we didn't use him there, so it's trying to not guess but trying to look into the future and then see how we can manage him, and maybe England have got it spot on leaving the best bowling wicket for the last Test after he's played three."

India battled hard on the opening day of the fifth Test despite the absence of Bumrah among four changes to the side that drew the fourth Test of the series in Manchester, with batter Karun Nair showing some excellent composure to compile an unbeaten half-century on a day that saw England's quicks ask the visitors plenty of questions via some decent bowling.

"Karun has been asked to do a tough job on the tour, start off at No.6 in the first Test and then batted at three for the other two Tests and I always said and we always thought that his tempo and his rhythm was very good," ten Doeschate noted.

"He's a quality player, particularly for that reason that he can absorb the pressure.

"I thought he summed up the conditions really well today and when someone comes back into the Test side like he does after a lengthy absence, the pressure is always there.

"But I think he's handled that very well...hats off to Karun.

"I think he's had a really good tour without blowing the lights out. But he's given himself a chance now tomorrow to to get a big meaningful score for the team."