As India prepares for a challenging five-Test series in England, with the absence of several senior players, captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir face some difficult decisions regarding both batting and bowling line-ups.
One of the major decisions will be who will take Rohit Sharma's opening position — Yashasvi Jaiswal or Abhimanyu Easwaran? Another issue is whether Karun Nair returns to India's middle order. The selection problem gets even more difficult with deciding how many of the four matches pace attack spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will play, as he is only able to play four out of the five Tests because of workload management.
Gambhir confirmed that a decision regarding Bumrah's playing schedule has not been made yet. But he sounded hopeful for Nair, who has performed outstandingly in domestic cricket and India A of late.
"We haven't received that call. Much will depend on the series results, and we will sit down and talk to him. That is something which he is also aware of," Gambhir said at a pre-departure press conference at the BCCI headquarters on Thursday.
When asked to comment on playing without Bumrah for the whole series, Gambhir assured that the team has a strong bowling attack.
I believe that we have selected sufficient bowlers and we have sufficient pace bowlers. Most of the fast bowlers are in a perfect position to be able to win matches from any position, any situation. Evidently, a player like Jasprit Bumrah, whenever he would play, it would be a wonderful sight for us.".
"Difficult to replace Bumrah always, but like I said in the Champions Trophy, it is a chance for one guy to raise his hand. And there is plenty of quality there.
"But I believe we have a good combination of bowlers, and we have a good group of bowlers. Look, you always find it tough to replace a player like Bumrah. But we have got plenty of choices," Gambhir further stated.
As far as Karun Nair's possible recall after a remarkable domestic campaign — after battling his way back into contention after a triple century and ensuing exclusion — Gambhir insisted that the form is paramount in case of selections and prefers to give players full opportunity.
"Look, it's just good for domestic cricket because all the young players who are playing domestic cricket, we understand the value of domestic cricket. If you keep returning to domestic cricket, those never get shut down. It's always good for us.
"He (Karun Nair) has played a little bit of country cricket as well, and he's in great touch.". He scored a double hundred for India 'A' (in the first unofficial Test against England Lions). It is always beneficial for us that these guys are well settled and scoring runs as well. So his experience will surely be helpful. Hopefully, he will perform. And above all, we will look after him, we will not judge a player after just one or two Tests.
"As much as you guys have done, which you do because I think if someone has scored eight hundred, I think he will be able to produce as well. So that we can showcase his talent at this level as well," Gambhir said.
Regarding the chances of Shreyas Iyer being included in the team as a replacement during the tour, even though at the beginning he had said that selection is a selectors' call, Gambhir said:
"Look, anyone can, if they're in good shape. We can only select 18, and the chairman of selectors has already addressed that question. In my case, I believe it's always about being receptive to people who are in good shape, who will come and get the job done."
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