India’s assistant coach, Ryan ten Doeschate, has revealed that the home team will use the same XI for the second Test match against the West Indies. Shubman Gill leads India who is to have a confrontation with the West Indies in the deciding match of the two-match home series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Just before the game, Doeschate suggested a no-change combination, which means the ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah is not going to be rested for the second Test even though the host have already won the series 1-0.
In the pre-match press conference, India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate gave a sneak peek of India’s playing XI for the second Test against West Indies by saying the home side would probably go with the same set of players who played in the previous match in Ahmedabad.
Although his words pointed to Jasprit Bumrah’s presence in the second Test, Doeschate further disclosed that the continuing of Nitish Reddy is related to the long-term goal of making him a valuable all-rounder in Test cricket.
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“I think it’s very unlikely that we will come up with a new combination. One of the medium-term objectives is to produce a seam-bowling allrounder for India as it is very important that we have such a player when we go on tours. We did not get a very good view of Nitish last week, so I believe it is a great chance to give Nitish another try and keep the team balance unaffected,” said Doeschate, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
B Sai Sudharsan faced difficulties in his first encounter with the West Indies during the Test series, scoring a meager seven runs. In contrast, the young batsman Dhruv Jurel hit a splendid century and was the main contributor to India’s commanding win.
On the one hand, Rishabh Pant’s comeback to Test cricket may not affect the selectors’ decision more in favor of Jurel due to his current form as per the estimates.
Besides, Ryan ten Doeschate considers that Sudharsan is completely aware of the competitive Jurel situation, which should be a positive factor for him to score heavily in the coming games.
“I do not think he is being naive and moreover he can’t run away from the truth that fighting for a place in this environment is part of the game, where Karun Nair got four Test matches in England[then getting dropped for the West Indies series]. There are many excellent players struggling uphill to whoever has the right of that place,” he remarked.
“I would think it does (bring about pressure on Sai Sudharsan). My opinion is that Dhruv demonstrated last week how extremely talented he is. We have been aware of this from the very beginning, how well [he could] fit into the middle order, and besides that, there are other good players who are trying to get a top-three or top-four spot – of course Shubman Gill has got four already,” was the remark of the assistant coach.
Going by his remarks, we think India will not change their winning team from the Ahmedabad Test, and Padikkal, Axar, Jagadeesan, and Prasidh Krishna will most likely miss out on selection yet again.
