Testing Time: Injury-hit India looks to square series against resilient England
Following the first Test in Leeds, India had found a settled line-up by fielding three all-rounders in the playing eleven including Nitish Reddy, who has now been ruled of the series due to a knee injury.
MANCHESTER: An injury-plagued India could be forced to depart from its preferred template when it takes on a reinvigorated England in the fourth Test starting here on Wednesday, hoping to end a winless record at the storied Old Trafford and draw level in what has been a compelling series so far.
Following the first Test in Leeds, India had found a settled line-up by fielding three all-rounders in the playing eleven including Nitish Reddy, who has now been ruled of the series due to a knee injury.
With Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar being the two spin bowling all-rounders, India had the cushion of batting till number eight but that may not be the case in Manchester, where the visitor is yet to win in nine attempts including four losses and five draws. England is leading 2-1 going into the penultimate game of the rubber.
Shardul Thakur, who played the series-opener, would be the direct replacement for Reddy in the playing eleven but he doesn’t provide the same batting quality. If selected, he would have to up his game with the ball too as Reddy had produced timely wickets in the third Test at Lord’s.
Considering the options available, India could also go back to the combination it played at Leeds where it had only one spinner in Jadeja and there were specialist batters till number six with both Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan in the playing eleven.
Also in the mix are uncapped pacer Anshul Kamboj and Prasidh Krishna.
Like Akash Deep, Kamboj can generate plenty of seam movement and he also looked in good shape in the first outdoor training session ahead of the high-stakes contest. He was also a part of India A’s shadow tour of England.
