IND v ENG Test series: With no KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja or Virat Kohli in second Test, India faces uphill challenge in Visakhapatnam

Ravindra Jadeja scored 87 runs and took five wickets in the first Test at Hyderabad. He's out of the second Test with a hamstring injury. Virat Kohli is not playing the first two Tests for personal reasons. (File image via X)

When it rains, they say, it pours. Beleaguered Indian captain Rohit Sharma can certainly relate to that. Less than 24 hours after the crushing loss to England, by 28 runs in the first of five Tests, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja were officially ruled out of the second Test, starting in Visakhapatnam on Friday. Already without Virat Kohli for that game as well – the former skipper withdrew from the first two matches for personal reasons – India’s task of bouncing back and levelling things up in the southern port city have taken a massive hit.

Rahul and Jadeja were among the few bright spots in the Hyderabad disaster, both making 80s in India’s first-innings 436 and the latter also picking up five wickets in the match, even if at a significantly greater cost than normal. Like R Ashwin and Axar Patel, his fellow spinners, Jadeja too found it hard to respond to Ollie Pope’s stunning counter full of sweeps and reverse sweeps, conceding 219 runs in 52 overs, well above his career economy of 2.46 runs per over.

Along with their undisputed skills, Rohit Sharma will also miss their immense experience at a time when all hands are needed on deck to right the currently listing ship. Jadeja is a veteran of 69 Tests while Rahul, who has led the country in all three formats at various stages, earned his 50th cap in Hyderabad. With Kohli also unavailable, the Indian captain will now have to largely operate on his own and rely on the wisdom of his deputy, Jasprit Bumrah, and star off-spinner R. Ashwin, four shy of 100 Test appearances, in a tight situation.

Why India will miss KL Rahul in the second Test

Having played himself out of the Test XI with a string of underwhelming performances, Rahul has got a second wind after being recalibrated as a middle-order batsman. He first embraced that role in South Africa last month, notching up an excellent hundred in his first such outing in Centurion. By following it up with an assured 86 in the first innings against England, he had triggered expectations that the middle order would be in safe hands. Rahul is an excellent player of the turning ball and one of the few in the Indian batting line-up unafraid to use his feet, either to come down the track or go deep in the crease to negotiate spin. His will be a big shoe to fill, particularly when India are with their backs to the wall.

Why India will miss Ravindra Jadeja in Test 2

Jadeja is an even bigger loss, if anything. In the last eight years, Jadeja has earned his spurs among the premier all-rounders in the world, a greater understanding of and faith in his batting, complementing his all-weather bowling and often nudging him as the first choice, ahead of Ashwin, as the lone specialist spinner when India play overseas. Since the start of 2016, in 53 Test matches, he averages more than 40 with the bat and less than 25 with the ball, very good figures even in isolation but quite remarkable when put together. As a left-handed batsman, he offers the variety in the middle order that can help disrupt opposition plans. He is capable of batting in multiple gears, depending on the situation. Like in the first innings in Hyderabad, he can graft and grind and build an innings, but he also possesses the ability to take the fight to the bowling with his crisp ball-striking.

His propensity to think as a batsman allows him to tailor his bowling to the needs of the moment, too. Jadeja is quick through the air and turns the ball enough to find the edge, and while he may not be hailed as the intelligent, thinking bowler that Ashwin is regarded as, he has held his own when the duo has operated in tandem. Throw in his electric fielding, and Jadeja is almost three cricketers rolled in one. India already have a ‘slightly lesser’ Jadeja in the form of Axar, but there is no other like-for-like replacement in sight, so they will have to make a huge compromise on balance, to start with, when the think-tank of Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid sit down to determine who will come in for the Saurashtra all-rounder.

KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja: Recovery and rehab

At this stage, one isn’t sure when Rahul and/or Jadeja will next be available for selection. The good news from an Indian perspective is that the third Test doesn’t start in Rajkot until February 15, so the duo will have two full weeks for recovery and rehab. But quadriceps and hamstring injuries don’t always sort themselves out in a hurry and without any clarity on how serious the nature of these respective injuries are, it will be impossible to say with certainty when this crack pair will return to action.

Rajat Patidar Test debut on the cards

In Rahul’s absence at No. 4, a Test debut looms for Rajat Patidar, the 30-year-old right-hander from Madhya Pradesh. Patidar came on board in Hyderabad as Kohli’s replacement and should be the first choice for Visakhapatnam, ahead of the equally prolific Sarfaraz Khan, who is one of three inclusions – alongside spinners Saurabh Kumar and Washington Sundar – for the second Test. Patidar has been an accomplished performer in domestic cricket and for India ‘A’, and is coming off centuries in his last two outings for India ‘A’ against the visiting English Lions. He averages nearly 46 in first-class cricket and while he is no Rahul – and certainly no Kohli – he does possess the tools as well as the attitude to strike it rich at the next higher level.

Who for Jadeja is a trickier question. If India are looking for bowling alone, that search should logically end with Kuldeep Yadav, the left-arm wrist spinner who has 34 Test wickets and was Player of the Match in his last Test appearance, in December 2022 against Bangladesh. If they are looking for someone who can also chip in with handsome runs, the nod might go to Sundar, who averages 66.25 in four Tests but isn’t quite the proven wicket-taker that Kuldeep or even Saurabh are with the red ball.

No matter who the brains trust plumps for, India won’t be anywhere near full strength in Visakhapatnam. It does pour when it rains, doesn’t it? But in adversity lies opportunity, and that’s the message Rohit will strive to drive home to his team over the next few days.