Vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane’s wretched form and senior off-spinner R. Ashwin’s possible inclusion will have the most significant impact on the Indian team’s efforts to move on from its Leeds debacle when it takes on England in the fourth Test at the Oval from Thursday.
India skipper Virat Kohli knows that all is not well with his batting unit and the biggest problem is the performance of its three middle-order stalwarts — the skipper himself, his deputy Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara.
Pujara might have redeemed himself with a knock of 91 which was high on “intent quotient” but the same can’t be said of Rahane, whose form is shaky despite a knock of 61 in the second innings at Lord’s.
In all likelihood, Rahane would get another chance, but over the past two years, his inconsistency has hurt the team badly.
If Rahane is dropped, Hanuma Vihari has a better chance of coming in as he also bowls off-spin.
The Oval track has traditionally helped spinners and Ashwin is likely to get back into the side.
The form of rival skipper Joe Root, who has already tallied over 500 runs in just three games with a hat-trick of hundreds is another cause for concern for the Indians.
Prasidh included
Meanwhile, the selection committee, based on a request from the team management, has added fast bowler Prasidh Krishna to the squad for the fourth Test.
Eng vs Ind | Fast bowler Prasidh Krishna added to main Test squad
The teams (from): India: Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Capt.), Ajinkya Rahane (Vice-capt.), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and Prasidh Krishna.
England: Joe Root (Capt.), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Rory Burns, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood.
Match starts at 3.30 p.m.
