London: India is likely to go with an extra batsman in Karun Nair for the all-important final Test of the India-England series. He will be coming in place of pace all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who played the fourth Test.
The pace department is also expected to see a couple of changes. Jasprit Bumrah and Anshul Kamboj will make way for Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna, with Mohammed Siraj being the spearhead. Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel will replace the injured wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who was ruled out of the series because of fracture of the foot.
In case India go with this combination, bowlers Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh would finish the tour without getting a game. With the pitch having a layer of grass, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep once again failed to make the cut. And that is also the reason India bolstered their batting line-up.
The Bumrah temptation
On the match eve, there was a point of view that Bumrah might play his fourth Test of the series in Oval despite the team management’s workload considerations and the pre-decided plan to play him just three Tests. That was not to be.
After the team management resisted the temptation to play Bumrah, they threw their weight behind the youngish pace attack led by Siraj. At the end of the first Test that India lost, coach Gautam Gambhir was asked if they would think of giving Bumrah an extra Test, four instead of three, in case the series result was on line. “There will be no compromise on work load,” he had said.
Meanwhile, Bumrah’s absence gives Siraj a chance to lead the pace bowling for the second time in the series. In Birmingham, where Bumrah sat out, Siraj didn’t just take the responsibility on his shoulders but also mentored Akash Deep, the man of the moment in that game as he picked up a 6-for in the second innings and 10 overall in India’s solitary win so far.
Nair’s inclusion is the most interesting selection choice. With Nair and Sai Sudharsan both expected to be in the playing XI, it will be interesting to see who bats at No.3. In the first match of the series both Sai and Nair were in the side but it was the left-hander from Tamil Nadu who got the nod. But in the second and third Test, when Sai was dropped because of team combination reasons, Nair batted at No.3. Sai took that spot again at Old Trafford where Nair was left out of the playing XI in the fourth Test.
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With India going with 5 bowlers – three specialists and two all-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar- they will have their work out. No bowler can have an off day. The rationale of bringing Karun in the team is Shardul’s lackluster bowling. Since Shardul wasn’t too effective in Manchester, India thought of adding a pure batsman to shore up their batting ranks in London.
Meanwhile, England have already announced their playing XI and will be without captain Ben Stokes as a shoulder injury ruled him out of the match.
