Can Sai Sudharsan make it into India’s Playing XI without kicking Karun Nair out?

Team India has been hit massively. 3 players have suffered injuries after the third Test. Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the India vs England series. Arshdeep Singh and Akash Deep are out of the Manchester Test. This means Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir will have to make at least two forced changes.

India’s No. 3 conundrum

But there might be an unforced change as well. A lot of talk is going around about Karun Nair potentially getting dropped and Sai Sudharsan taking over the number three spot at Old Trafford. Now, Gill has stated that Nair isn’t out of the equation just yet. “He didn’t bat at his number in the first game, and we have had conversations with him, and he will turn it around,” said the Indian captain.

Gill’s statement seems to suggest that not only will Nair continue but also bat at number three. However, visuals paint a different picture. Sudharsan was spotted shadow batting on a covered Old Trafford pitch on the eve of the match. One can’t ascertain what might happen. We’ll just have to wait for what Gill says at the toss.

Sudharsan & Nair might play together

The first scenario might be that Sudharsan replaces Nair. A straight swap. The second could be that Sudharsan plays at number three and Nair goes to number six, much like the first Test. But that seems like a contradiction to what Gill has said. So, what may happen is Sudharsan goes to six and Nair continues at three. A reversal of what happened in Birmingham.

A good thing for both Sudharsan and Nair is Rishabh Pant regaining full fitness. If it wasn’t 100%, Dhruv Jurel might have replaced Nitish Reddy and would have been India’s wicketkeeper, while Pant would have played as a batter. But that won’t happen. Given that both Gill and Gautam want batting depth, it’s certain that Nitish’s spot will be taken by a batter.

Gill has also hinted that Anshul Kamboj might be making his Test debut at Old Trafford. He’s someone who can hold the bat. He averages 16.20, not much worse than Shardul Thakur, and even scored an unbeaten fifty against England Lions. He’ll definitely bat ahead of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah.

This virtually confirms that it’ll be a three-way race between Sudharsan, Nair, and Jurel for two of these three spots. We have seen the management trust both Nair and Sudharsan over Jurel in the first Test; nothing suggests why both of them can’t play together again. Perhaps Nitish getting injured is a blessing in disguise for both of them.

India’s squad for 4th England Test

Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (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