Probable Indian Squad for the last 2 Tests against England
England 2-1 India. This is what the scoreline for the five-match series stands after three highly engrossing Test Matches.
The first Test Match at Edgbaston was stated as one of the best Test matches in years by many as India fell short of their target by just 31 runs! What a classic!
But, in the 2nd Test Match at Lord's, the Englishmen crushed the visitors as India lost the match by an innings and 159 runs. Low on morale, low on Form. The batting was in shambles and some major changes to the Playing XI were desperately required.
Cometh the third Test Match at Trent Bridge, the fans witnessed a totally different Indian side. Form-wise, as well as the playing XI. A perfectly scripted victory by a huge margin of 203 runs as all the departments shone brightly. The openers got off to great starts in both the innings, Pujara and Rahane getting valuable runs to find their form, Hardik Pandya's perfect all-round performance, a great debut for the young keeper Rishabh Pant, the pacers coming to their own to exploit the conditions on offer and Captain Kohli himself, scoring 200 runs in the match and bagging the MoM award, of course. What more could a team ask for?
The main question arises now. Whose name to lay on the squad list for the fourth and fifth Test matches? Situations like these can be very very tricky for the Captain and the selectors. Do they really need to bring up any changes when almost everyone from the squad has found form even after being 1-2 down in the series?
Does it even make sense to discard players after making them play three Test matches in away conditions and picking up from players available for selection back home who don't even have the experience of playing even a single Test abroad? Well, there can be many such points and questions to frame.
The Openers
The selectors might be tempted to bring in an extra opener, *just in case*. Back home, the likes of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal have consistently dominated the bowlers in the domestic arena and are banging loudly on the doors of the selectors.
But it looks pretty early for Shaw and it's tough for Mayank to find a place with KL Rahul and Dhawan performing well in the third match and Murali Vijay, though out-of-form and sidelined, will probably retain his place owing to his pretty good overseas record.
The openers might be the same with minimal chances of Prithvi Shaw or Mayank Agarwal getting a call.