Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Karun Nair might return to the Indian team’s playing XI for the fifth Test against England. He added that the visitors might want to play an extra batter because of Rishabh Pant’s unavailability, with Shardul Thakur potentially being dropped as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “I don’t see anyone else other than Sai Sudharsan at No. 3 for the time being. He scored a half-century in the first innings as well. I want one more batter to play, because if Shardul Thakur doesn’t play, then you obviously would want another batter.”

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“Who can be that batter? To be fair, it can be Karun Nair only because you are not going to play Abhimanyu Easwaran at No. 6. Since Rishabh Pant is not there now and Dhruv Jurel is there, you definitely need one more batter. So you might see Karun Nair playing again,” he further added.

However, Aakash Chopra also stated that Arshdeep Singh might play his first Test as well.

“Arshdeep Singh might make his debut. Bumrah’s availability is not known. The coach said all bowlers are available, but there is a possibility that Bumrah might not play, or else Bumrah plays and Siraj doesn’t. No one talks about Siraj’s workload. Maybe it is time for us to give him a break,” he said.

“It’s also been heard that Akash Deep can return. He is looking fit and available. I don’t see Shardul Thakur playing. There is a very strong case for Kuldeep Yadav. However, can you play three spinners? If you are not going to play three, can you drop either Jaddu or Sundar? I don’t think you can actually touch Sundar and Jadeja right now,” Aakash Chopra concluded.