India have made three changes to their squad for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka, and there could be more in the offing due to injuries. Shubman Gill will lead the team to the island nation, with the Tests on August 15-19 in Galle and August 23-27 in Colombo.
On the face of it, pace all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy and spin all-rounders Washington Sundar and Harsh Dubey have been dropped from the contingent after being part of the squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan last month. Jasprit Bumrah, Saransh Jain and Ravindra Jadeja have replaced them, respectively.
Among the omissions, Reddy and Sundar are injured.
Reddy has been dealing with a quadriceps injury for over a month and is reportedly doing his rehabilitation at the
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. He is said to have resumed bowling, but this series came too early for him.
Sundar, meanwhile, has a right hamstring injury. The BCCI said he was only unavailable for the first Test of the series, which leaves a chance for him to return for the Colombo game, if he can recover on time.
Dubey is the only one left out due to tactical reasons. The left-arm spinner, a record-breaking one from Vidarbha, got his maiden Test call-up for the Afghanistan game, but Manav Suthar was preferred over him.
Suthar, also a left-arm spinner, impressed with seven wickets and has retained his place. While Dubey would feel hard done by, Jadeja’s return probably affected his selection.
The Ajit Agarkar-led committee would have wanted an off-spinner — in comes Jain — to offer a different variation for Gill, especially in Sundar’s absence.
Bumrah replaced Reddy because the team would not need too many pace all-rounders in Sri Lanka’s spin-friendly conditions. But the senior pacer had an asterisk beside his name — he suffered an impact injury on his knee last week — with the BCCI saying he still needed a final medical clearance. If he’s unfit, they might turn to Auqib Nabi.
Another player with the asterisk is Sai Sudharsan. Devdutt Padikkal is in the squad to act as a direct like-for-like replacement in case the Tamil Nadu and Gujarat Giants batter is not fit. The board might need to call in an extra batter for the squad if Sudharsan is ruled out.
