The Indian cricket team is expected to make three changes for the 4th Test against England in Manchester, starting this Wednesday.
Anshul Kamboj is the frontrunner to replace the injured Akash Deep. Head Coach Gautam Gambhir and Captain Shubman Gill also need to find a replacement for Nitish Kumar Reddy, who is also injured. It looks like one more change might happen.
According to the Indian Express, B Sai Sudharsan might return to the playing XI after being dropped after a bad showing in the first game at Leeds. In that game, Sai batted at No. 3, with Karun Nair batting lower down. In the second and third Tests, Nair was favored over Sudharsan for the one-down position.
Kamboj is likely to make his Test debut for the injured Akash. Shardul Thakur is also expected to join the team for Nitish Reddy as a pace-bowling all-rounder.
Even though rain cut short India’s practice on Tuesday, Sudharsan’s inclusion looks probable because of the time he spent practicing. The Tamil Nadu batter did shadow practice when the pitch was covered and carefully checked the greenish-brown areas.
When asked about dropping Karun Nair, Captain Shubman Gill didn’t give up on the veteran batter. Even though Nair hasn’t scored many runs, the team still seems to support him. In the three matches so far, the 33-year-old has scored 0, 20, 31, 26, 40, and 14.
We think Karun is batting okay. He didn’t bat in his usual position in the first match (batted at 6). It’s hard when a player is coming back in a series like this. But I don’t think his batting is the problem. Sometimes it’s just about getting that good score. Once you get to 50, you can get back into your rhythm and score big. Sadly, that hasn’t happened for him yet, Gill said at the press conference on Tuesday.
It’s hard to know who Sudharsan would replace if he plays in the 4th Test. But given Coach Gautam Gambhir’s preference for all-rounders, Sai probably won’t replace Nitish.
So, Karun might miss out on a spot in the playing XI. Another idea is to add another batter by dropping Washington Sundar.
India’s possible playing XI against England in the 4th Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar/Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Anshul Kamboj