KOLKATA: Where does the Indian Test team go from here? In a literal sense, Guwahati where they play the second game of the two-match series. It's scheduled to begin on Saturday but there are a lot of questions the team management and the leadership group have to answer between now and then.
For starters, what are their options if Shubman Gill doesn't recover in time for that game? The hosts are scheduled to have a closed-doors training session at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday before they leave for Guwahati a day later. The Indian captain, who has been on the road without a break since the first week of September, was discharged from the hospital on Sunday following the neck injury he suffered on the second morning of the Test.
As such, he's a doubtful starter for the second game. He will want at least one training session between now and Friday to see if he's good to go but the medical staff may adopt a cautious approach with him. If they don't want him to fly so soon after a neck issue, Rishabh Pant may well captain the side. If he decides to test out his neck during the optional practice session on Wednesday, that may be an indication that the doctors have given the go ahead for him to fly. But at this point in time, Gill is closer to missing the second game.
Options to replace Gill
If Gill indeed does sit out, the reserve batters are B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal. Both have played for India with varying levels of success. Sudharsan was thought of as the next permanent No. 3 but the team management have already dropped him twice since making his debut at the start of the England series. The left-hander did play in the shadow A tour in Bengaluru with returns of 32, 12, 17 and 23, it doesn't fill you with a world of confidence. But he had also made a neat 87 against the visiting West Indies last month in Delhi. If they want to go down the path of Padikkal, he's coming off even fewer runs from the same shadow A tour against South Africa with scores of 6, 5, 5 and 24. Before that, in the long Ranji game for Karnataka, he had made 96 against Saurashtra in Rajkot.
A left-handed heavy team
Assuming India retain Dhruv Jurel as a specialist batter and do not bring in Nitish Kumar Reddy, who's supposed to rejoin the squad for the second Test, India will then have Yashasvi Jaiswal, Padikkal/Sudharsan, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Pant and Kuldeep Yadav. Simon Harmer feasted on India's left-handers as six of his victims were this batting type. He turns the ball away from them and on a pitch with lots of variable bounce and sharp turn, he had no problems. India may want to try and address this problem.
Can they bring in a right-hander
There are no reserve right-handers currently in the squad so if they are considering this change, they may look to draft a replacement for Gill. But the options may be limited. Abhimanyu Easwaran, who has been part of many an Indian side, is a player of some repute in the domestic game but his time may have likely come and gone; also there's no spot for an opener in this XI. Sarfaraz Khan has previously played for India but he wasn't even considered for the shadow tour. And he's hit a patch of bad form for Mumbai with scores of 42, 32, 1, 15, 5 n.o and 16 in this year's Ranji. Rajat Patidar may have earned a recall but he's out with a long-term injury. Will the management go back to Karun Nair after turning his back on him a month ago?
The pitch factor
Whoever they decide to draft, it goes without saying that the conditions will again play a bigger role. Apart from the pitch, an early morning start and floodlights potentially coming on around 3.00 PM may also mean that some overhead conditions could come into the equation. International white-ball games have generally been high-scoring at the Barsapara but that cannot be a frame of reference. This is the first time that the stadium will be preparing a pitch for a Test. With India facing a dire need to win the game because of potential WTC ramifications down the line, they may feel compelled to role out another extreme pitch.
