Selection dilemma for Indian team as both Rahane , Nair in contention
Debasis Sen, Hyderabad: India coach Anil Kumble has hinted a selection dilemma for his side ahead of the one-off test match against Bangladesh. With Rahane recovering from his finger injury that kept him out of the later part of the England series and Karun Nair grabbing the oportunity with both hands, the team management will be in a dilemma to pick the playing eleven.
“We still haven’t thought about the combination but it’s nice that Karun grabbed his opportunity with both hands in Chennai. It’s fantastic for a young cricketer to come in and score a 300 runs. Ajinkya’s performances have been phenonmenal across different conditions.”
With Kohli preferring to go in with five bowlers the axe may fall on any of the batsman. It looks like the Mumbaikar may get the nod ahead of Nair, who scored a triple century against England during the fifth test match in Chennai.
India coach Anil Kumble also stressed on the importance of continuing it’s winning momentum in the one-off test match against Bangladesh starting from Thursday. India is all set to take on Bangladesh at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. India will look to build on their confidence ahead of the tough 4 match test series coming up against Australia which starts immediately after the Bangladesh test.
“We would like to look at it as continuation from where we left off against England. It’s been a good home season so far. We would like to take confidence from that and build on it as we have a few more test matches after this,” said Kumble to the reporters at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Bangladesh has shown remarkable improvement in the longer format in recent times. The win against England in October was followed by a good performance in the recently concluded series against New Zealand.
“Bangladesh has done really well against New Zealand in the recent past although the results have been different and we would like to look at what we can do and continue to measure what we can achieve as well. They have some good all-rounders, so should be a good contest,” Kumble said to the scribes ahead of the practice session of Indian team.
India is on a role under Virat Kohli, winning 9 test matches out of 12. Coach Anil Kumble has urged his players to improve on their own performance.
“I think the most important thing is to analyse our own performances and measure our own expectations and not really look at the opposition. I don’t think we need to do anything different against Bangladesh. We will have to focus on our performance irrespective of who our opposition is, as long we continue to keep winning those performances then I think the results will go our way.
Asked whether the opening slot is a concern, the legendary leg-spinner said, “Opening slot is not a concern at all.
“Murali Vijay and Lokesh Rahul have played really well in the last series. We need a back up opener if something happens on the day of the match. Abhinav (Mukund) brings in not just experience of playing at the international level but also lots of runs at the domestic level.”
On the bowling front India will have to rely on the trusted spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Kumble did admit that they are proven match winners.
“I think the conditions have been challenging during the series versus New Zealand and Engalnd. Also the time factor was a major factor when we played England. When you take all those factors into consideration, and pick up wickets, it does speak volumes about their ability. I was extremely pleased with Jadeja’s performance in Chennai where he varied his pace and picked up wickets on a very good surface. People don’t tend to give too much credit to the spinners when they perform in India.”
Lastly, the Team India coach heaped loads of praises on Hardik Pandya.
“Hardik is one for the future as far as Test cricket is concerned and that is why it is important to keep him “in the mix, because he is someone who has the ability to become a good all-rounder even in the longer format,” Kumble stressed.
Pandya, 23, is yet to make his Test debut but has been part of recent India squads.