The Manchester Test is just a night’s sleep away. It is the fourth Test of the ongoing England versus India series and the tourists are set to have their fourth different bowling combination. Injuries have played a part in it. Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the series after sustaining a knee ligament injury. Akash Deep will miss the game, as he is nursing a groin niggle. Anshul Kamboj has been drafted into the squad and he is likely to make his debut in Manchester.
But where does it leave Kuldeep Yadav? On the face of it, the world's best spinner not getting a game yet sounds bizarre. A resounding win at Edgbaston notwithstanding, the Indian team management’s template to stick to bits and pieces at the expense of a specialist hasn't augured well.
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The third Test at Lord's is a case in point. England had slumped to 271/7 in their first innings. But their last three wickets took the total to 387. In the final outcome, those 116 runs proved to be decisive. The counter logic could be that Washington Sundar ran through England’s middle-order in the second innings to return with four wickets and set up the game for India. Then again, on a pitch where Jamie Smith and Co. struggled to counter Washington’s apparently innocuous off-spin, they might have found Kuldeep unplayable. Tailenders are always vulnerable against wrist-spin, and Kuldeep is a world-class operator.
Kuldeep’s absence is a reason why England’s tail has wagged time and again, contributing to a 2-1 lead after three Tests. Not that bolstering batting has proved to be a game-changer for the visiting side. For example, in both innings at Lord's, Reddy got out after getting his eye in. In the second innings, his dismissal on the stroke of lunch lost India the game.
“Picking Kuldeep can be the right move, but how would you fit him in. There may have to be a tough decision is it Sundar who misses out? I wouldn't want to be the one making that call,” former England fast bowler Steve Harmison, now a JioHotstar pundit, spoke about the selection dilemma.
Then again, this is Test cricket and the best players should play irrespective of the conditions. Overloading the side with muti-skilled cricketers has worked wonders for India in white-ball cricket. Test cricket, though, is a different ball game.
Between the lines, maybe there's a sharp dig in Ravichandran Ashwin’s wild suggestion that India should consider playing Kuldeep as their “fourth seamer”.
Shubman Gill and his troops have already lost two unlosable Tests in this series. They can't afford to go down in Manchester. Playing a match-winner like Kuldeep could be their recipe for success.
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