4th Test: India's playing XI for Old Trafford a tricky choice
Injuries, loss of form and a psychological blow has
put India's once blossoming Test tour of England in disarray after a
heavy defeat at Southampton, and now picking the playing XI for Old
Trafford from an inexperieced squad has turned into a tricky choice.
With three days to make up his mind, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has
plenty to ponder before putting names against numbers one to eleven on
the team sheet ahead of the toss on August 7.
Shikhar
Dhawan has had three Test failures on the tour, Ishant Sharma is
injured, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has swelling on his foot, Virat Kohli's bat
is silent, Cheteshwar Pujara isn't doing justice to No. 3 position,
Ravindra Jadeja is trying to overcome the James Anderson episode.
Clearly, Dhoni has a range of problems to solve and keep hopes of
winning the series alive.
Injuries, loss of form and a
psychological blow in the Anderson row has put India's once blossoming
Test tour of England in disarray after a heavy defeat at Southampton.
(AFP Photo)
Gautam Gambhir and R Ashwin look two certainties for the fourth Test
after having watched the proceedings so far from the pavilion. Kumar is a
worry and looking at the team's inexperienced fast bowlers on the
bench, the team will pray for him to recover in time.
According
to reports, the Old Trafford pitch may have some spin in it, which may
relieve Dhoni's headache a bit by offering a chance to play two
spinners. But in that case as well, India must play with five bowlers
considering they failed to bowl out England with four at Southampton.
Ishant is confirmed out and his replacement in the third Test,
Pankaj Singh, bowled well in patches but lacked pace to trouble the
Englishmen. That could mean Varun Aaron joining Kumar and Mohammad
Shami, who too has been disappointing, as the three pacers.
Here's the eleven that could take field at Old Trafford:
1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Murali Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat
Kohli, 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 MS Dhoni (c/wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Ravindra
Jadeja, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mohammad Shami, 11 Varun Aaron
