Once the retirements of Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – spread over the last half a year – were confirmed, it was evident that India’s squad for the Test series in England was going to have a fresh look.
It was bound to be one of India’s most Testing transitions, and it was confirmed on Saturday by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee, who handed over the reins to as the new captain, with as his deputy. In fact, by naming an 18-member squad, Agarkar and Co. somewhat eliminated a lot of questions that would have otherwise been raised, with not much to come in terms of surprises.
Here’s a closer look at the makeup of the three facets of the squad.
Perhaps the major surprise was that, not including wicketkeepers and allrounders, the squad of 18 has only six out-and-out batters. India will heavily depend on the experience of and Rishabh Pant in English conditions, quite possibly the two most important batters for India in this series. Of course, all eyes will be on Gill’s batting just as much as his captaincy, because, despite his obvious talent, he hasn’t quite lit up the Test scene with consistency. So much so that when they had to shuffle the batting order Down Under, he found himself out of the XI.
The curiosity is around B Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran and . Sudharsan is a 23-year-old picked on potential and eye-tests more than numbers in first-class cricket. At 29, Easwaran – with 101 first-class caps – has been around the India A squads for a long time, as well as India’s, without making his breakthrough yet. And in Nair, a 33-year-old veteran has broken down the selection door with his displays on the domestic circuit.
The big talking point here was the omission of Sarfaraz Khan, who has been harshly overlooked despite not getting any chances in Australia, but it is hard to argue with the selections of these three men occupying three different positions on the experience spectrum.
One thing that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy made clear was Indian bowling’s dependence on . Thrust into leadership in Perth, he produced magic to give India the lead, and kept delivering match-turning spells for the rest of the series too, but was eventually overburdened with the workload by the backend of the series.
It led to him missing the Champions Trophy, but since returning to the , he has looked in good rhythm. However, Agarkar confirmed earlier reports that Bumrah cannot play all five matches of the series, an aspect that perhaps proved critical in him not being considered for leadership roles. The former India pacer said whether Bumrah plays three or four Tests will depend on how his body holds up and the state of the series.
Which brings us to his support cast. ’s fitness ‘setback’ — as Agarkar called it — means India will have to find a strong support cast. Onus will again fall on , who struggled in his second tour of Australia but has shown he can deliver in English conditions.
The surprise here was to see Harshit Rana left out after his couple of appearances Down Under, quite possibly because of doubts over his endurance in later spells. That puts a lot of pressure on Prasidh Krishna and Akash Deep – whoever is picked – in their first outings in England, with the latter perhaps more suited to English conditions.
, however, is an interesting pick with Agarkar throwing his weight behind the left-armer based on the body of work he has built up in domestic and County cricket. It is a tempting variation to throw at England right away.
There was a school of thought that India might look at more specialists to take on the Bazballers, but it appears is set to roll the dice on all-rounders once again, with , Shardul Thakur, Reddy and all making the cut.
To make an early guess, two of these four will likely be in the first-choice XI, which puts a lot of onus on the experienced shoulders of Ravindra Jadeja. More than his spin, which will still be crucial to hold one end, India will rely heavily on his batting experience in the middle order. Thakur has experience of delivering in England, famously turning up with a match-winning display at the Oval, while Nitish has looked out of sorts in the IPL, which could see the Mumbaikar have an edge.
