Key Points

Gill stated that the decision on Bumrah's involvement will depend on the number of overs he bowls in each Test match and how his body feels after the match.

It was a constant talking point in England earlier this year, following the announcement before the Anderson-Tendulkar series that Bumrah would play only three of the five Tests to manage his workload.

"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. 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 after the match," Shubman Gill told the media.

Team India will lock horns with West Indies in the two-match Test series starting from Thursday, October 2, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Gill had a mixed season in red and white-ball cricket this year. He was appointed India's Test captain in May 2025, following the conclusion of the Indian Premier League, and led the team in the five-match series against England.

Gill made a remarkable start to his captaincy, scoring four centuries against England. Following the England series, he was named vice-captain of India's T20 Asia Cup team.

Going from red-ball cricket in England to white-ball cricket in the UAE for the Asia Cup and back to red-ball cricket, on a red-soil pitch this time, just three days after winning the T20 Asia Cup, Gill believes going from the shortest format to the longest is probably the hardest thing.

Gill ended up as a leading run-getter in the series, with a massive 754 runs in 10 innings at an average of 75.40 and four centuries, including a marathon effort of 269 and 161 during India's maiden win at Birmingham in the second Test.

However, he did not have the best outing in the Asia Cup, scoring 127 runs at an average of 21.16. The UAE pitches are slower and more conducive to spin, which requires batters to play cautiously at times.

He further added that for a batter, it's not physical fatigue but more mental, and he is ready to take up the challenge in the upcoming series.

"When you are going from the shortest to longest, I think it's probably the hardest when you go from T20 to one day and then test. It's probably easier than going from test to T20 or T20 to test. And some of the things that, like I said, I just try to get in the zone," Gill said.

"That zone is nothing, just watching the ball well, and to be able to decide the areas that you are going to, for me as a batsman, decide the areas, which areas am I going to defend, and which areas am I going to attack. And just identifying those areas and then the mental side comes in, how much control and how much patience does one have to be able to stick to that process," he added.

"For a batsman, I don't think it's physical fatigue. It's more mental for a batsman. That's a little different for a bowler. As of now, I feel fresh and my body is ready. I am just looking at what I have to do this week and next week, and that's how I will be making my decisions," he concluded.

Squads:

India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), N Jagadeesan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Kumar Reddy

West Indies Squad: John Campbell, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Alick Athanaze, Brandon King, Roston Chase (c), Shai Hope (wk), Justin Greaves, Khary Pierre, Johann Layne, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales, Jomel Warrican, Jediah Blades, Kevlon Anderson, Tevin Imlach.

- ANI