ITeam India has already lost the ongoing five-match Test series against England. The scoreline of 3-1 doesn’t suggest the way they’ve competed but the consistent failure of a few players have cost them the series big time. Meanwhile, India’s premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin wasn’t seen doing bowling practice in the nets as India trained at the Oval on Wednesday ahead of the fifth Test. He was having some stiffness in his hip muscle during the third Test in Southampton, even during the fourth Test, he wasn’t looking to be 100 percent fit.
He took two wickets in the first innings at the Ageas Bowl, and then on a pitch which was having a decent assistance for spinners, he returned figures of 1 for 84 in 37.1 overs. Ashwin had not bowled two days out from the fourth Test either but was subsequently fit to play. On Wednesday, he ran a few laps around the ground and was then engaged in conversation with the bowling coach, Bharath Arun.
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Apart from Ashwin, Indian opener KL Rahul has played in all the four Test matches but has failed to score a single 50+ score in the series. There were calls of him being dropped for the fifth and final game for Prithvi Shaw. However, the reports also suggest that he was the first to enter the nets on Wednesday and then practiced slip catching with the cordon before batting again for a considerable period of time. On the other hand, Shaw didn’t get much chance to bat which indicates that the youngster will be benched again and will have to wait for his chance.
KL Rahul is the only Indian opener to play in all the four Tests so far. But he hasn’t lived up to the expectations adding only 113 runs in eight innings at a mediocre average of 14.12. His amazing slip catching might have given him a nod ahead of the others. Rahul has been superb with his reflexes in the slip cordon and has taken 11 catches so far with seven of them coming in the third Test at Trent Bridge which India won.
WATCH – Brilliant Slip Catching From KL Rahul
In the meantime, Murali Vijay was dropped from the squad after the third game for his continuous failures overseas this year. Even Shikhar Dhawan didn’t play at Lord’s which means the team retained faith in Rahul and hoped for him to improve as the series progressed.
It remains to be seen if India will make changes to the side that played the fourth Test.
