2024-01-30 17:29:00
India vs England: A rare Test defeat at home has already put India under pressure. And the team, which will be without Virat Kohli in the second match, will have two leading players, KL Rahul and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who were the main players in the middle order yesterday, in the 2nd Test at Illamal, Visakhapatnam starting on Friday.
Jadeja suffered a hamstring injury during Day 4 of the first Test at Hyderabad. At the same time, Rahul said that he had pain in his right quadriceps, BCCI said.
For a team trying to meet the challenge of Ben Stokes’ England, losing two veterans for such an important game forces them to start from scratch.
The selection panel has included domestic run machine Sarbaraz Khan, left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar and off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar.
In the absence of the wicketkeeper, Rahul, the most experienced batsman in the middle order, scored 87 runs in the first innings as India took a 190-run lead. His dismissal in the fourth game was a huge setback for the team. Hence, England beat India by 28 runs.
Rajat Patidar is already in the squad and has been impressive in white-ball cricket. Under normal circumstances, he should be off the charts. But as questions are raised about the Indian batsmen’s ability to counter spin and their reluctance to use different versions of the sweep shot, Sarfaras can be seen.
Sarfaraz faced some problems when faced with real pace and bounce, but the pitch in Visakhapatnam is expected to be spin-friendly and his skills in that department can be considered useful.
As a replacement for Jadeja, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav is already in the squad. The Uttar Pradesh tweaker has an impressive Test record and has the ability to confuse the batsmen with his variations. But his inclusion will not help India’s batting much. His state player Saurabh is experienced at first-class level and could be a replacement for Jadeja, who has been one of the leading all-rounders in Test cricket over the years.
Sourav is no rabbit with the bat, but untested at the highest level and with some players in the team – especially on the batting side – not the best in experience, this could be an unknown step for the selectors. Also, with Axar Patel already a left-arm spinner in the XI, a little difference in their spin arsenal wouldn’t go amiss.
Sundar is classed as an all-rounder in white-ball cricket – especially T20s – and his four previous Tests have brought him three fifties and a batting average of 66.25, but he has only 6 wickets, each costing him nearly 50 runs.
If the team management is determined to continue playing spinners and hope to have a say in their final analysis in that department, they are likely to go for Kuldeep, who has delivered in tight situations in the past. If so, they will hope that their go-to specialist batsmen will get enough runs on the board.
On the batting front, it remains to be seen whether the selectors go for the weight of domestic runs that Sarfaraz brings to the table or look at the impression Patidar has made in his small sample size, despite his very low average in first-class cricket.
Read in English: IND vs ENG: Why does Sarfaraz Khan have a chance to be preferred over Rajat Patidar for Vizag Test?
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