India-England 4th Test: Change In Indian Team Combination On Cards

After the capitulation of the Indian team in the third Test match against England at Leeds, the team management must be itching to get the team combination right for all important fourth and the penultimate Test at Oval starting from Thursday.

Here are a few permutations and combinations that the visiting team could try in order to stay afloat in the series.

Jinx continues

Team India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is so far off-colour in the series. Apart from the only half-century at Lord’s, the dependable batsman has put up a dismal performance in the series. Rahane, fondly called as Jinx by his teammates, is currently looking like a pale shadow of his former shelf. There is every chance that the team management may replace him with flamboyant Suryakumar Yadav or the sedate Hanuma Vihari who are warming the benches for a while now. The change may give solidarity to the struggling middle order.

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Ishant may be rested 

Veteran Ishant Sharma was seen clearly struggling at Leeds. If Shardul Thakur has fully recovered from his injury, he will be given the nod ahead of the lanky pacer at Oval Test. Otherwise, Umesh Yadav will get his first game in the current England series. While Shardul’s inclusion will give a bit of solidarity to the lower batting order, Umesh could add a bit more variety to the Indian attack as he could surprise the English batsman with his uncanny ability of picking pace from the wicket.

Jadeja out, Ashwin in?

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has nurtured a knee injury during the third Test at Leeds. He could make way for star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the fourth Test. Oval is traditionally a spin friendly wicket. If Jadeja recovers fully before the match, there is also a chance that India could play both the spinners. The option could give a batting cushion to the struggling Rishabh Pant. However, skipper Virat Kohli needs to be convinced about the limitation of his four-pacer theory.

Shaw, Agarwal to warm benches

It seems very much likely that young Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal will have to warm the bench for some time more. The team management will not take any risk to disturb the opening combination of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul that has done a tremendous job in the series so far.

(Edited by Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty)