In the recent times, lack of practice sessions of the Indian cricket team was immensely criticized by the pundits, especially before the Third Test against England at Trent Bridge as India witnessed a thumping loss at Lord’s. Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar also one of the critics who lashed out on Virat Kohli and his men for their inadequate practice sessions despite playing the highly demanding Test series.
However, ahead of the fourth Test starting at the Ageas Bowl on August 30, the Indian players were looking much more relaxed since the visitors won the third game. Considering the possibilities of the Indian squad, the Indian team management will might go with five quicks in Southampton in a quest to level the series. According to one of India’s main fast bowlers, Mohammad Shami, it is unlikely that India will go for an all-pace attack.
During a press conference, Shami said, “It’s hard to field five quicks in a Test match. According to me, you need a spinner because, on the fifth day, it will turn for sure. I can definitely say that there will be a result on this wicket, and a good result.”
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On the other hand, Kohli will get tempted to play with Ravichandran Ashwin as the latter is India’s most experienced on this tour was troubled by some stiffness in his hip muscle at Trent Bridge and did not bowl on Monday when the tourists trained at the Ageas Bowl for the first time.
Ashwin was seen in the nets pretty regularly on Tuesday and was back to his normal self after starting lightly. He started the series well by picking seven wickets in the first match at Edgbaston but couldn’t manage to leave a similar kind of an impact in the next two Tests, managing just one wicket in three innings.
New entrants in the Test squad – Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari – arrived in England last week and straight away hit the practice sessions and they looked in fine touch. However, their chances of earning the Indian Test cap pretty low. India now trail 1-2 in the five-match series. The fifth and the final game will be played at the Kennington Oval between September 7 and 11.
