India’s Test-match batting is set to receive an injection of pace should either of Kishan or Suryakumar make the XI. Both players have strike rates above 60 in first-class cricket. But getting them in remains a challenge.
On the bowling front, Mohammed Shami will step up as the front man of the attack with support from Mohammed Siraj, who enjoyed a stellar debut series against Australia when India beat them on their turf in 2020-21, Jaydev Unadkat, the left-armer who recently broke a spell of 12 years between Test matches, and Umesh Yadav. Hardik Pandya, although a regular part of India’s white-ball set-up, is not part of the Test squad. It is learnt that he does not yet have the fitness to bowl long spells in red-ball cricket. R Ashwin will be the lead spinner with Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav backing him up.
Changes between India’s last Test squad and this one
In: Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav
Out: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini, Saurabh Kumar, Shardul Thakur.