Follow UsAfter an agonising and crushing 22-run defeat at Lord’s, the time has come for India to regroup as we head to Manchester for the fourth Test of the five-match series.
India somehow find themselves 2-1 down despite, overall, being the better team, but they will take heart from the fact that they’ve been controlling most Test matches. They will believe that a performance along similar lines will be enough to level the series at Old Trafford, especially if they have a little bit of luck on their side.
While India went in with an unchanged XI for the third Test, there surely will be quite a few changes for the Manchester Test.
Rishabh Pant is set to be fit enough to bat for the fourth Test, but there remains a huge question mark over his wicketkeeping fitness. Dhruv Jurel becomes almost certain to keep wickets and bat lower down the order. Now, Jurel will likely replace Karun Nair, but India will need to find someone to bat at No.3, since it won’t be feasible for the wicketkeeper to bat at No.3.
Which is why there’s a high likelihood that we might see Washington Sundar get promoted to that position. Sundar has batted in the top three for Tamil Nadu previously, so he is no stranger to this spot.
News has come that Akash Deep is nursing an injury, as is Arshdeep Singh. That rules both of them out of contention. Either Prasidh Krishna or Anshul Kamboj will be playing as the third seamer.
The tricky call for India is whether they recall Prasidh (who was not great across the first two Tests) or take a gamble on Kamboj, who has been added to the squad. Kamboj, it is to be noted, was pretty impressive in the tour games for India ‘A’ against England Lions.
Jasprit Bumrah is expected to play this Test with the series on the line.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Anshul Kamboj / Prasidh Krishna, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj