Injury-hit India in must-win situation

Manchester: The beleaguered Indian team stares at tricky selections owing to a litany of injuries as they hope to rebound against a buoyant England in the fourth Test that kicks off here at a typically wet and gloomy Old Trafford on Wednesday.

An occupational hazard of playing five-match Test series is players, especially fast bowlers and all-rounders, breaking down at some stage, and India are hit with this in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy that is tantalisingly poised at 1-2 in favour of England.  

On Monday, all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who looked good with the ball in his hands in the heart-breaking defeat at Lord’s last week, was ruled out of the series, handing a serious blow to India. On the eve of the match, skipper Shubman Gill confirmed that pacer Akash Deep, down with a groin problem, is also unavailable for the fourth Test, which means the think-tank will have to make two changes at least.

Judging by Gill’s comments at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, newbie Anshul Kamboj, who was drafted into the Indian team on Sunday, will likely line up alongside Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. The strapping Kamboj was the centre of attraction during Monday’s full-intensity training session, and the 24-year-old gave a good account of his potential in the one hour he bowled, seemingly impressing bowling coach Morne Morkel, head coach Gautam Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar. 

The 24-year-old, who shot into limelight after taking all 10 wickets in an innings (10/49) for Haryana against Kerala last year in a Ranji Trophy match at Lahli, and even shone in the two matches for India A prior to the Test series, bowled with good pace, swung the ball and even hit the deck occasionally. He even received some appreciation from Gill.

While a pacer for a pacer is rather a straightforward one — the only hassle there is whether Gill goes for the experience of Prasidh or the novelty of Kamboj — a tricky one awaits the think-tank in finding a replacement for Nitish. It has been raining on and off almost every day over the past week at Old Trafford — a venue where India haven’t won against England, having lost four and drawn five in nine appearances — and the prediction is for similar weather for the course of this game. 

So does India play all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who can be a handful in such conditions, or bring back Sai Sudharsan to bolster the batting? Or do they drop spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar, who has done well in the two games he’s played, and play Thakur, despite a poor overall show in the series opener, because of the wet conditions where spinners may not be that effective and also play Sai Sudharsan? Solving this puzzle is going to be a tricky task, with Gill jokingly suggesting there has to be some mystery when asked about possible combinations.

The Indians, though, need to exhibit better maturity, composure and street-smartness here, where they need to win or draw to stay alive in the series. Although not many gave much of a chance for the transitional team, they’ve actually shown good fighting spirit and dominated for a majority of the series, that has even surprised England. The big problem has been losing wickets in and around intervals or in clusters, that has led to their downfall.

Test cricket demands concentration for longer periods of time, and the batters, like they did in Birmingham, have to score big runs and shut the door on England whenever opportunities present and not leave it half open. It’s going to be a massive test of skill and character, both for India and captain Gill, and they’ll be looking to hit back like they did in Birmingham. England, on the other hand, will be hoping to seal the series.

Squad: India (from): Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (vice-captain & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj.

England (playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (vice-captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer.