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Anshul Kamboj, Shardul Thakur or Kuldeep Yadav — exploring who can replace Nitish Kumar Reddy in India’s 4th Test against England.
Nitish Reddy celebrating a wicket. (AP Photo)
India had not recovered from the injury blows to Rishabh Pant, Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh — the latter two were reported earlier on Sunday — and it is now being reported that they might lose Nitish Kumar Reddy, too. The Andhra all-rounder hasn’t had the best time in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, scoring 45 runs and taking three wickets in two Tests, but at Lord’s, he had finally started to look like he could have a big impact.
Now, India might have to look for not one or two, but three changes when they are trailing 2-1 in the series and are desperate for a turnaround. There are several ways India can go about replacing Nitish at Manchester. But one thing is clear: the solution will likely have to be internal because there isn’t enough time to call up someone like Harshit Rana from home and get him match fit before July 23.
The first option is to bring a close to like-for-like change. Shardul Thakur is still available, though he was poor with the bat in the first Test in Headingley and wasn’t trusted with the ball. Anshul Kamboj, who has been called up as cover for the squad, can get in, too. He has been one of the best domestic pacers in India over the past year and has shown — like with a half century for India ‘A’ against England Lions — that he can bat.
However, with Akash Deep also unfit and likely to be ruled out, India might have to go with both Anshul and Prasidh in that case. A combination of Anshul and Shardul might be too light on bowling might.
A third, defensive option is to bring in Jurel for Nitish Reddy and Kamboj for Akash Deep. India’s batting struggled at Lord’s and Jurel will strengthen it, though this is how the bowling attack will look then: Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kamboj (on debut), Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar.
Finally, India can see this as an opportunity to be brave. It would be quite unlike the Gautam Gambhir-led management (which has so far preferred batting depth over bowling quality), but several experts were already calling for Kuldeep Yadav to come in for one of India’s three all-rounders used at Lord’s.
One of Kamboj or Thakur in place of Akash Deep can add some batting depth to the team, while Kuldeep will bring a wicket-taking ability which could be a difference-maker.
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