Manchester: India pacer Akash Deep was on Tuesday ruled out of the fourth Test against England due to a groin injury, and captain Shubman Gill said uncapped fast bowler Anshul Kamboj is close to making his debut at Old Trafford.
The choice for the third pacer will be between Prasidh Krishna and Kamboj, who joined the squad after Arshdeep Singh picked up a hand injury while training in Beckenham last week.
“Never easy when there is a bit of injuries going on in the squad, like you said Nitish is going to miss out the series, and Akash is also unavailable for this next match, so is Arshdeep, but I think we have got enough good players in the team to be able to get 20 wickets,” Gill told reporters in the pre-match press conference here.
“That’s been the most challenging part of the series, how as a team we are able to get 20 wickets, but I think looking at the weather it should be a good game.”
So, how close is Kamboj to make his Test debut after the Haryana pacer’s extensive net session on Monday?
“Anshul…he is very close to making his debut, we are going to see it tomorrow, between him and Prasidh, who is going to make it to the 11,” said Gill.
Gill believes that Kamboj is a match-winner just like the injured Akash, who took 10 wickets in the second Test at Birmingham.
“The communication is simple with Anshul, we have seen him enough, the kind of skill set that he brings to the table, is exactly what we want in this team, and he is there because we believe that he can win us the match.
“When Akash was bought in, a lot of people had questions, you know why he has been brought in, but it’s mainly the belief that we have within our squad, that any player that comes in the team, is able to or can win matches for us,” he added.
In a five-match series, there would be injuries to players and Gill had factored all of that as part of his preparation as the new Test captain.
“Firstly, it’s not ideal, when you have to, after every match, you kind of have to go back, and have a different combination, but it was something that I was prepared, before the series, that there would be a scenario, where I would have to, have a different combination for every match. I kind of planned it before the series, how we are going to go about it.”
Gill bats for Karun Nair
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Gill also backed Nair, who is yet to make a big score in his comeback series, to have another go.
While Gill backed Nair to come good at Old Trafford, Sai Sudharsan gave a strong hint of his participation in the game by performing shadow batting on the covered pitch here on Tuesday.
“Yes, we have had conversations with Karun, but we think he is batting well, sometimes it’s not, first match he didn’t really play at his number (three). It’s difficult when a player is making a comeback in a series like this…
Nair will continue to bat at three and if Sudharsan returns to the side, he will bat at six. The two batted in reverse positions in the series opener.
Sudharsan could come in place of the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy and if that happens Gill will need to choose between Washington Sundar or Shardul Thakur.
“…but I don’t think there has been, any issue with his (Karun’s) batting, he has been batting well, sometimes it’s also about, getting that click, once you are able to make your 50, then you are able to get back into your zone, and get some big runs, unfortunately that hasn’t happened for him so far, but we are hopeful, that he will be able to turn around,” Gill added.
