India’s senior-most pacer Ishant Sharma may not find place in the playing XI in the remaining two Tests against England after an indifferent show in the third match, which the visitors lost by an innings and 76 runs.
Ishant’s figures of 22-0-92-0 were worst among the Indian pacers as England scored 432 runs but more importantly, the veteran looked jaded.
Meanwhile, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s knee scan report hasn’t revealed any significant damage but off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin looks favourite to start in the fourth Test at the Oval from Sept 2.
It is still not clear whether India will plan to go in with two specialist spinners but Ashwin, who had a great county game for Surrey at the same venue won’t be benched at least in this game.
In case of Ishant going out, the choice would again be between Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur.
Shardul with his better batting abilities has his nose ahead but Umesh is certainly a better red ball bowler than the Mumbaikar.
But with Kohli clearly pointing out that workload will be monitored, it remains to be seen whether the seasoned Mohammed Shami with 11 wickets from 96.5 overs is rested to keep him fresh for the final Test or Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah has bowled the maximum overs among Indian pacers (108 overs) taking 14 wickets. The pacer is expected to play most games for Mumbai Indians in the IPL and is very important member of the T20 World Cup team.