After suffering a defeat by 22 runs in the third Test match against England at the Lord`s Cricket Ground, Team India has geared up to face the hosts in the fourth Test match.
Ahead of the match, Karun Nair, who made his comeback to the Indian Test side after a long time, has been the talk of the town. A certain group of fans, and cricket pundits, feel that Nair should be benched following his poor outing in all three Tests.
One of them is former Team India cricketer Irfan Pathan who instead believes the think tank should provide another opportunity to Sai Sudharsan.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Irfan said, “Should India persist with Nair? He has batted well. Runs have not come; the highest has been 40. But he hasn`t struggled. But I think Sai should play. The logic behind it is that he has a left-handed batter. I think England haven`t bowled well to left-handers”.
“If the team persists with Nair, it wouldn`t be a bad call,” added the 40-year-old.
India benched Sudharsan after playing him in the first Test. Batting at number three, the left-hander failed to open his account in the debut innings. In the second essay, Sudharsan accumulated 30 runs off 48 deliveries, including four boundaries.
Heading into the fourth Test match, the visitors have made just one change in their playing XI. Spinner Shoaib Bashir, who was injured during the third Test match, has been replaced by Liam Dawson. Bashir has been ruled out for the remainder of the series.
The fourth Test match is scheduled to be played at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester from July 23.
India`s updated squad for fourth Test against England: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC & WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj.
England`s playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith, Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer.
(With ANI Inputs)
