India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had briefly returned home for a family emergency, is set to rejoin the rest of the squad in Leeds on Tuesday, a couple of days ahead of the first Test against England, starting Friday.
File Photo (IANS)
India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had briefly returned home for a family emergency, is set to rejoin the rest of the squad in Leeds on Tuesday, a couple of days ahead of the first Test against England, starting Friday.
The former India opener, who rushed back to Delhi on June 11 after his mother suffered a cardiac arrest and was hospitalised, missed the three-day intra-squad match in Beckenham. It has been learnt that Gambhir’s mother has shown steady progress but the doctors have decided to keep her in the ICU for better monitoring.
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In Gambhir’s absence, Ryan ten Doeschate and Sitanshu Kotak, the assistant coaches, and Morne Morkel, the bowling coach, oversaw the team’s preparations, with Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the India A coach, with them. The game in Beckenham was played behind closed doors.
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After the game was over on Sunday, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav stressed on the importance of “volume” of overs for the bowlers in the group, who had only played T20 cricket – for over two months, at the IPL – in the lead up to the five-Test series.
“We’ve played a lot of T20 in the last four-five months, so volume is very important,” Kuldeep told bcci.tv. “All the bowlers are instructed to bowl as many overs [in practice as they would in a match]: the fast bowlers will bowl at least 15 to 20 overs so they can build up fully for the Test match, and it’s the same for the spinners – the more they bowl, the better it will be.”
Kuldeep also threw his weight behind new Test skipper Shubman Gill after the tour game: “I have seen over the last three-four sessions that Shubman has the same qualities that I’ve seen in our previous leadership groups. He’s fully ready to lead us.”
On return, Gambhir will be expected to take a few decisions in consultation with Gill and the rest of the team management, regarding the make-up of the team for the opening Test. With retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, leaving two gaps to fill in the batting order, there are a few contenders for the crucial batting spots, with the returning Karun Nair and B Sai Sudharsan, appearing the likely frontrunners.
Nair, who scored a double-century for India A in the first unofficial Test against England Lions, would be eyeing his comeback after eight years in waiting, while the likes of Dhruv Jurel and Abhimanyu Easwaran have also been among the runs.
Meanwhile, KL Rahul, who displayed his class with a century in the second unofficial Test against England Lions, is most likely to partner Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top of the order, while captain Gill could make room for his Gujarat Giants opening partner Sudharsan at No.3, and drop himself to No.4. It will be interesting to see how Nair, primarily a top-order batter, adapts himself at the No.6 spot with vice-captain and wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant coming to bat at his usual No.5 spot.
Seam-bowling all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy could be the designated No.7 even though India will also be tempted to test Shardul Thakur for the role, given his previous record in English conditions, followed by Ravindra Jadeja adding extra depth in the batting at No.8.
Coming to the bowling unit, it has been known for a while that pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will play only three of the five Tests to manage his workload, though it’s not known which three those will be. While Bumrah appears a sure starter for the first Test, it would be interesting to see the composition of the bowling line-up.
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