Indian Cricket team’s premier wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha is likely not to make the cut for the upcoming Test series against England commencing from August 1.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli & Co will play a five-match Test series following the ODI series. Saha, who suffered an injury during the Indian Premier League hasn’t fully recovered yet.
However, Dinesh Karthik, who replaced Saha for the one-off Test against Afghanistan, is likely to continue in the role. Saha failed to be ready for the four-day ‘unofficial’ Test against England Lions from Monday at Worcester. He will also not make it for the four-day warm-up match against Essex, which starts on July 25 in Chelmsford.
CricketNext reports that more than the injury, the lack of match practice also pushes Saha out of contention. Saha hasn’t played any game since the IPL Qualifier 2 in May.
AP
“Saha’s injury hasn’t healed as per plan and to be fair there isn’t a chance that he would be match-fit when the team takes the field in the first game.Even though he was working on his fitness all this while, he could not keep wickets or bat with the soft plaster on. Game time is also something that the current management is looking into and it has been a while since Saha last played any form of cricket,” he said.
Dinesh Karthik achieves a unique record.
Moreover, some of the Test specialists are already in England and will be part of the unofficial Test matches. The selectors are likely to pick the squad after the completion of the ODI series.
Another selection dilemma will be whether to go ahead and bring back fit-again pacer Mohammed Shami. Furthermore, Jasprit Bumrah will miss the first Test while Bhuvaneshwar Kumar suffering from a bad back. Shami passed the Yo-Yo test a couple of weeks back after failing to clear it before the Afghanistan Test.
