From not having enough options due to a plethora of injuries, the Indian team will have a different worry while selecting the playing XI for the opening Test against England, with old warhorse Ishant Sharma facing tough competition from newcomer Mohammed Siraj.
Indian team listens intently to head coach Ravi Shastri
Chennai:
The Indian team had its first of the three available practice sessions on Tuesday and going by the traditional Chepauk wicket that normally assists the spinners, India might go with two pacers and three spinners for the February 5-9 opener.
All eyes will be on the troika of head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharath and last but not the least, skipper Virat Kohli, to make a tough call on who would partner pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah, who missed the last Test against Australia in Brisbane due to a groin strain, is fit and available to lead the pace attack.
However, there are questions about 32-year-old veteran Ishant being out of red ball cricket for nearly a year. On the other hand, Siraj is in red-hot form having 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, having 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, bowling coach Arun will take a call after checking the two bowlers in question.
Hardik to start training from Wednesday
All-rounder Hardik Pandya’s quarantine will end on Wednesday morning and he will join the team training. Pandya, who is back in the Test team after a long hiatus, joined his colleagues a day late after attending to a personal matter.
While Pandya may not feature in the opener, 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.
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