India’s vice-captain Rishabh Pant has announced a key change in the Test batting line-up for India vs England 1st Test (Ind vs Eng). Shubman Gill will now bat at No. 4, a spot left open by Virat Kohli. Kohli, India’s former captain and fourth-highest Test run-scorer, recently stepped away from the role.
With Gill moving down the order India are still deciding who will bat at No. 3. Gill used to bat there, but now he has taken over as captain after Rohit Sharma’s retirement.
Currently Karun Nair seems to be the top pick for the No. 3 position. He returned to the team recently and looked solid in the practice game against India A. He batted at No. 3 and also fielded at first slip in training. Other slip fielders included KL Rahul, Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Jaiswal and Rahul are expected to open the innings. They last opened together in the Australia series, starting and finishing it before Rohit took over in the middle games.
If Nair takes No. 3 India still need one more batter in the middle order after Pant at No. 5. Two strong options are B Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Sudharsan is highly rated despite being uncapped. Meanwhile, Reddy impressed with a century in Australia.
India’s main focus now is on picking the right bowling combination. The team got a lot of criticism in Australia for not playing five bowlers. That plan had worked well over the last few years. This time India is weighing the option of using either Reddy or Washington Sundar as the fifth bowler for 1st Test against England (Ind vs Eng).
If they want more batting depth they may choose Shardul Thakur. He can bowl medium pace and bat at No. 8. However it’s not clear yet if he will be picked over Reddy. Both Thakur and Reddy bowled long spells in the training session at Headingley.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are set to lead the pace attack. India brought in Harshit Rana as cover in case Siraj or Akash Deep got injured. But both are fit and ready to play. However Akash might miss out as the team is also considering Prasidh Krishna. His tall action and bounce could be useful in English conditions.
If the pitch turns later due to the warm weather in Headingley, Kuldeep Yadav might come into the picture. Otherwise the team might pick Washington Sundar for his all-round skills adding depth to the batting for India vs England (Ind vs Eng) Test.