Bumrah isn't featuring in the series finale at The Oval.
The Indian team management had confirmed before the England tour that Bumrah would only play three of the five Tests. The No.1-ranked Test bowler turned up in the first, third and fourth games and was rested for the second Test, which India won at Edgbaston.
The ace pacer is also not featuring in the series finale at The Oval, where the hosts have dished out a green top pitch.
After the first day’s play in the fifth Test, Ten Doeschate described the situation as solving a puzzle, where they need to put India’s need to have their best bowler to win matches against the risk of inflicting a long-term injury.
“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," the assistant coach said in the post-day presser.
“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," he added.
Ever since Jasprit Bumrah sustained a back spasm in the Sydney Test against Australia, the Indian team management has been extra careful about managing his workload.
As a result of that injury, he missed the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and the initial few matches of the IPL 2025 season for Mumbai Indians.
Ahead of the England tour, Bumrah revealed that he himself requested the BCCI not to consider him for Test captaincy after Rohit Sharma's retirement, as he would not be able to play all five Tests due to workload management.
Ten Doeschate also dismissed the suggestion that Bumrah was ‘picking and choosing’ which matches to play.
“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 Dutchman said.
“I don’t think picking and choosing is a fair comment to Bumrah, he did say he was going to play three games, he left it up to us which three he played, we’ve tried to manage the situation, it’s not ideal, I guess giving those guys attention, the guys who aren’t playing particularly when you’re carrying 18 is important," the coach added.