New Delhi: India did not have enough options due to a plethora of injuries during the recent tour Down Under. However, the Indian team will have a different worry while selecting the playing XI for the opening Test against England. Now the India team is spoiled for choices. As far as the pace department is concerned old warhorse Ishant Sharma is facing tough competition from Mohammed Siraj.
The Indian team had their first of the three available practice sessions Tuesday. The Chepauk pitch usually starts spinning from day two onwards. So the Indian team will go with a bowling attack comprising two pacers and three spinners. With Jasprit Bumrah being an automatic choice, the fight for the other spot is between Ishant and Siraj.
“The pitch is a typical Chepauk wicket. No English feel or anything. In this humidity, you need to have grass on the wicket so that it doesn’t break up that easily. This wicket will help spinners as it always has been the case,” a BCCI source said Tuesday.
All eyes will be on the troika of head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharath and last but not the least, skipper Virat Kohli. They would have to make a tough call on who would partner Bumrah.
See video of India’s training:
https://www.bcci.tv/videos/148666/team-india-s-day-out-at-chepauk
However, there are questions about 32-year-old veteran Ishant being out of red ball cricket for nearly one year. Siraj on the other hand is in red-hot form. He picked up 13 wickets in three Tests, including a five-wicket haul in Brisbane.
As far as Ishant is concerned, he has only recently made a comeback to competitive cricket. He has played four Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches and bowled a total of 14.1 overs. It is expected that in the course of the next two days, Arun will take a call on the issue.
The second call could be a bit tougher as there is an in-form Washington Sundar and left-arm orthodox spinner Axar Patel. Senior off-break bowler Ravichandran Ashwin and left-arm wrist spinner Kuleep Yadav are expected to play.
Washington is the man in form having hit a half century and taken four wickets on his debut. However, his presence would mean two identical bowlers even though there is a vast difference in terms of quality.
Axar is also a very handy middle-order batsman apart from being a like-for-like replacement for Ravindran Jadeja.
Hardik Pandya to start training from Wednesday
All-rounder Hardik Pandya’s quarantine will end Wednesday morning. He will then join the team training sessions. Pandya is back in the Test team after a long hiatus. He joined his colleagues a day late after attending to a personal matter.
Pandya may not feature in the opener. However, he is expected to increase his bowling workload keeping the final of the World Test Championship and the five-match Test series in England in mind.