Indian skipper Virat Kohli has revealed they won’t be bothered by Shardul Thakur’s absence in the second Test against England at Lord’s, to be played on Thursday, as they can strike the right balance. He feels there are enough options to choose from.

Shardul Thakur has been ruled out of the second Test against England with an injured hamstring. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is likely to replace him for the game.

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However, Virat Kohli turned down any impact of Shardul’s absence as he feels the batting department is doing fine with both openers and Ravindra Jadeja scored runs during the first Test in Nottingham.

“The good thing is that Jadeja has got runs in the first game already, so he will go into the second game confident. That already makes our batting a bit deeper, the lower-order contributed with the bat as well,” said Kohli during the pre-match press conference.

“Shardul brings in more batting ability but having said that, from the batsmen’s point of view, we are well placed. Pujara, Rahane and I did not score too many, every game is an opportunity for other batsmen to step up as well.”

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Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul batted well in the first innings at Trent Bridge. India had an opening stand of 97 runs – their best in outside Asia in over a decade. Rahul looked very fluent and scored good-looking runs while Rohit was in control during his stay at the crease.

“Rohit and KL played really well, we are comfortable with how we are placed. We do not feel that we are batsmen short if Shardul does not play. For us, it is about finding that right balance, if Shardul is not available, we will try to take 20 wickets first and we feel comfortable with how the first Test went,” he further added.

The second Test will be played will be at Lord’s from August 12.

(With inputs from ANI)