Nair, Pandya in the mix, says Kumble

Karun has done the hard yards, feels Indian coach

One of the two rookies – Karun Nair and Hardik Pandya – is likely to be handed a Test debut when the first of the five-match series against England begins here on Wednesday.

While head coach Anil Kumble kept his cards close to the chest so far as team combination was concerned, he talked up both Nair and Pandya’s chances. While all-rounder Pandya earned a surprise call-up for the longer version, Nair, who has been in the squad without getting to play as a replacement player, has been picked as a first-choice player for the first time.      

 “Karun has done all the hard yards, in domestic cricket, of scoring runs heavily and also consistently,” Kumble said of his junior Karnataka mate. “There was a little bit of talk of him not performing for India ‘A’ in Australia but what we are looking at is consistency and he has done all the hard work and that’s why he was part of the squad against New Zealand (replacing Shikhar Dhawan for the third Test in Indore) and since then he has gone into Ranji Trophy and got more runs, got hundreds and it’s opened an opportunity for Karun because Rohit (Sharma) is now injured.

 “We still haven’t looked at what combination to play with, whether we should go with the same combination we played with against New Zealand or look at a different combination, but Karun is certainly someone we have kept a close eye on and backed him for all the things he has done in domestic cricket. I’m sure he will get an opportunity and when he gets the opportunity, we will certainly back him to go and get the runs for India as he has been doing for Karnataka,” he noted.

 Turning his attention on Pandya, Kumble underlined the importance of an all-rounder. “I think Hardik is an extremely talented player,” he stressed. “He is a quality player and that’s why we have backed him in this series as well and to get him into the Test squad because the importance of an all-rounder (is one thing) we all understand, the importance of a fifth bowler. If someone can bowl 140kph and give you the option of batting really well lower down the order, that’s a great option to have. So we are really looking forward to seeing how Hardik develops.”
 Kumble, when reminded of the 2012 series which the Englishmen won, felt the previous result will have no bearing on the forthcoming series.

“You can certainly look at history and look at it the way you want to,” he said. “But it's a totally different England team that has come and it's a new Indian team that's playing against England. Yes, there are a few players (on either side) who played in the last series but it's a totally different series. For us, what's important is that we've been playing Test cricket, right from West Indies and that's healthy. Every player is looking forward to this series. Yes, past records, you can look at them the way you want to. But for us, the immediate performances really matter. That's the confidence we'll take into the series,” he reasoned.