India’s bench makes a mark

Rajkot, February 19

India may not be contemplating life after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli just yet but the robust display of their fringe players against England will have eased any fears about how they will cope when the old guard steps aside.

Bumrah likely to be rested for 4th Test

Rajkot: India pacer Jasprit Bumrah is likely to be rested while batter KL Rahul is expected to make a comeback after recovering from a quadriceps injury in the fourth Test against England beginning February 23 in Ranchi. Bumrah is the leading wicket-taker in the series with 17 scalps and single-handedly bowled India to victory in the second Test. “The team will travel to Ranchi tomorrow and Bumrah is likely to be given rest,” said a BCCI source while also informing that Rahul is nearing full fitness and should be a part of the squad in Ranchi. The decision to rest Bumrah doesn’t come as a surprise considering he bowled 80.5 overs in the first three Tests. PTI

Kohli, 35, is not playing in the five-Test series due to personal reasons, leaving Rohit, a year older, to juggle the captaincy with the burden of leading India’s batting.

6.53

Run-rate during the partnership between Jaiswal and Sarfaraz, the seventh highest for any stand of 150-plus balls in men’s Tests. It is the highest and the longest partnership scored at more than a run-a-ball for India in men’s Tests

With Shreyas Iyer, 29, struggling to meet the demands of Test cricket and 31-year-old KL Rahul battling fitness issues, India have been left wondering how to plug the gaping hole in the middle-order.

Behind the stumps, India have also been searching for someone to replace the neat glovework and uninhibited hitting of Rishabh Pant, who remains out of action since a horrific car accident in 2022.

But three matches into the series against England and most of these concerns appear to have been addressed. Seven months after Yashasvi Jaiswal burst onto the scene by hitting 171 in his debut Test in West Indies, the opener struck back-to-back double hundreds against England.

The 22-year-old smashed a record-equalling 12 sixes in his unbeaten 214 in the third Test which prompted comparisons with former India opener Virender Sehwag, who was famed for his take-no-prisoners batting.

“India has a new @virendersehwag...,” former England captain Michael Vaughan posted on X, calling Jaiswal “a player who will destroy many attacks in all formats exactly like Viru used to do”.

In seven Tests, Jaiswal has passed the 100-mark three times and converted two of them into double hundreds.

India will also take heart from the performance of two players who made their Test debut. Middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan has been knocking on the door for a while, and his twin half-centuries left many wondering why it took so long to blood the 26-year-old.

Wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel also impressed in replacing Srikar Bharat, who played the first two Tests against England. Jurel occasionally struggled to read left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the first innings but his glovework was significantly better in the second.

That improvement was highlighted by the run out of Ben Duckett, Jurel rushing in to collect Mohammed Siraj’s full-blooded throw on the bounce and breaking the stumps while going to the ground. Jurel has honed his six-hitting skills in the Indian Premier League and he smashed three of them in his first-innings 46. “We always talk about the bench strength. Here and even in Visakhapatnam, we got to see a lot of bench strength,” Rohit said. — Reuters

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