Manchester: The long-winding five-match Test series in England has hit the home stretch but despite securing a memorable draw at Old Trafford, India continue to search for the “perfect” eleven, more specifically the right bowling combination, heading into the finale at The Oval in three days’ time.
India’s preference to bat till number eight at the expense of a specialist bowler has been constantly questioned over the course of the series and more so after Shardul Thakur, playing in place of the injured Nitish Reddy, was used for only 11 overs at Old Trafford.
But with India conceding more than 600 runs for the first time since 2014 at Old Trafford, the case for including an out and out wicket-taker like Kuldeep Yadav, who has been warming the bench for the past 40 days, is stronger than ever.
After an underwhelming debut, Anshul Kamboj is likely to make way for a fit-again Akash Deep or Prasidh Krishna.
Arshdeep Singh, who too has been a passenger like Kuldeep, has also recovered from a hand injury and would be dreaming of a Test debut in what has been a highly competitive and engaging series.
Though head coach Gautam Gambhir declared all the fast bowlers fit in his usual combative tone following the draw on Sunday, there is no denying that the pace pack, especially Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, are part of the tiring bunch on either side of the dressing room.
Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja, the architects of a famous draw, formed India’s top six in the second innings due to Rishabh Pant’s injury and showed remarkable grit to bat out more than two sessions to save the game, completing fine hundreds in the process.
If that same template is followed at The Oval, Dhruv Jurel will come in to bat number seven and India can play four specialist bowlers by benching Shardul, who anyway has not been getting enough overs.
The fourth bowler can be Kuldeep with the pitch expected to aid spinners or an extra fast bowler.
By its own admission, the Indian team management has been consciously trying to fit Kuldeep into the playing eleven but the current template of batting till eight has prevented it from doing that.
“So Kuldeep, we are trying to find a way for him, but it is just (that we need) more consistent runs from our top six, so that we can bring a guy like Kuldeep in,” said India bowling coach Morne Morkel during the fourth Test.
“It’s finding when he comes in, how we can find balance and how we can get that batting line-up to be a little bit longer and stronger. We’ve seen in the past that we’ve lost wickets in clumps.
“Kuldeep is world-class and he’s bowling really well at the moment, so we’re trying our best to find ways for him to get in,” added the South African.
Recently-retired Test great R Ashwin can’t understand India’s obsession of batting till eight for a few extra runs when a strike bowler like Kuldeep can allow them to play with fewer runs. For him, picking Kuldeep in Manchester was a no brainer.
Considering the selection calls thus far, it can be said that India have been pretty firm about having a cushion with the bat in the lower-order. That will need to change if Kuldeep has to come into the scheme of things.
Bumrah has already played three Tests but with series on the line, he could turn up at The Oval and someone like Mohammed Siraj, the only Indian pacer to have featured in all the games, would be raising his hand up despite the heavy workload.
“On these wickets…You do not know whether you will lose the toss, you will win the toss. You do not know what sort of a start you are going to get. So when you pick a team, I think you will try and pick a balanced team,” said India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak recently when asked about playing an extra bowler over an all-rounder.
“You cannot go like ‘because last game three guys got 100s, we can play a batter less’.
“…sometimes we feel that six bowlers are not getting enough bowling. So when you have six options, anyway captain struggles to bowl all six equally. Picking an 11, you will always try and keep that balance of batting and bowling,” he reasoned for India’s existing selection approach.
