Karun Nair to replace Shardul Thakur in India’s 5th Test XI

India’s cricket team will bring some changes to their playing XI for the fifth and final Test against England at The Oval. Karun Nair is most probably going to replace Shardul Thakur, strengthening the batting line-up. In contrast, pace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Anshul Kamboj will sit out, while Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna will take their places along with Mohammed Siraj in the pace attack.

The exclusion of India’s left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav is probably because the pitch has a grass cover, and spin bowling may not be beneficial in that case. Dhruv Jurel has been chosen to do the wicket-keeping duties in place of injured Rishabh Pant, who fractured his foot.

Team management had thought of playing Bumrah in the fifth Test despite workload issues but decided against it. Instead, Siraj will be captaining the pace attack, which he did in Birmingham when Bumrah rested. In that game, Siraj guided Akash Deep, who had a career-best 6-for in the second innings.

With this configuration, Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh could be left out of playing a single match in the tour. The decision by the team management to give importance to workload management for players like Bumrah shows prioritization of long term objectives.