3 Players Who Might be a Surprise Inclusion in the India Squad for the England Tour

Team India started off their tour of England with a resounding victory in the T20I series. They played some terrific brand of cricket which saw them winning the 1^st and the 3^rd matches. KL Rahul carried on his rich vein of form and scored a magnificent century in the opening clash. Rohit Sharma who also came into the tournament with not many runs behind him smashed a sensational century in the deciding T20I at Bristol.

He smashed his 2^nd century of the series in the ODI series opener. However, India lost the 2^nd ODI to surrender the lead. The Men in Blue have played some good cricket and will back themselves to win the deciding ODI tomorrow. However good they play in the limited overs series won’t matter in the end if they fail to win the Test series.

It will be the most challenging tour of the summer for India and there are a few spots up for grabs. The team management and the selectors might look to bring in some new faces for the all-important tour. There is an injury concern over Jasprit Bumrah.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

If he fails to recover in time, India will be in a fix. However, there are some impressive bowlers waiting in the wings who might replace Bumrah. India might also look to strengthen their batting-order and some of the youngsters who has scored a bundle of runs for India A might get a look in.

Now without wasting any time let us have a look at 3 players who might be a surprise inclusion in the Test squad for the tour of England.

Prithvi Shaw

The youngster burst on to the scene as a 14-year-old when he smashed 546 in a Harris Shield match. He is a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar and some of his shots look identical to a younger Tendulkar. He has played some special knocks in his brief career and might be a good option for the Test series in England. Some of his drives are quite exquisite.

He became the youngest to score a century on his Duleep Trophy debut. The record was earlier held by Sachin Tendulkar. He also led the India U-19 team to victory in World Cup earlier in the year. Courtesy impressive showing he got a Mumbai call-up and played quite a few matches for Mumbai. He scored a century on his Ranji debut.

Courtesy impressive showing in the domestic circuit, Shaw was picked up by the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL Auction earlier in the year. He played some good knocks and earned praise from all quarters. He also recently earned an India A call-up and has lived up to his reputation in his brief career. Prithvi might be a surprise inclusion in the Test squad.

Karun Nair

The Karnataka middle-order batsman has already played a few matches for India. He is the only other Indian batsman apart from Virender Sehwag who has scored a triple century in Test cricket. It came a couple of years ago against England. It was indeed a great knock as Karun full use of the opportunity he got in the middle order.

However, he failed to perform on a consistent basis which saw him eventually losing his place in the team. He has not been able to make a comeback since. However, a comeback might be on the cards in England. He is already in India A squad which will play the England Lions in a 3-day warm-up match from today. The side consists of Tests players Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane.

Nair hasn’t played in England before for the national team. He is a good batsman against quality seam bowling and might be a solution to India’s woes which wrecked them the last time around. Hence Karun might be a possibility in the Test squad which starts from August 1.

Deepak Chahar

The right-arm swing bowler might get a look in if Jasprit Bumrah doesn’t get to recover in time for the Test series. Chahar has made giant strides in international cricket and has a great potential. He was quite brilliant for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. He sustained an injury in the middle of the tournament and had to miss a few matches.

However, he was the 1^st choice bowler for the CSK and made a return directly after recovering from the injury. His prodigious swing has troubled top level batsman. Along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chahar might be a surprise inclusion in the Indian squad. However, if Bumrah recovers in time, Chahar might have to wait a bit longer to make his Test debut.