Indian cricket team skipper Shubman Gill put an end to much suspense before the team's 4th Test against England at Manchester, which commences on Wednesday. India have been struck by major injury setbacks with the allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy ruled out of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, and Arshdeep Sigh ruled out of the fourth Test.
Gill has confirmed that even pacer Akash Deep, who picked 10 wickets in India's victory against England at Birmingham, will not participate in the fourth Test either. India are behind 1-2 in the five-match series after the first three matches. If Kamboj does get to play England, it would be the 24-year-old bowler's international debut. Kamboj has an experience of 24 First-Class matches, where he has 79 wickets to his name. He also possesses one first-class half-century.
“Akash Deep is unavailable, so is Arshdeep, but we have good players in the team to pick twenty wickets. It is not ideal to have different bowlers, but I was prepared,” Gill said on Tuesday. “He (Anshul Kamboj) is very close to making his debut. We will see between Prasidh and Anshul tomorrow.
"We have seen his (Kamboj's) skill set. We have the belief that he can win matches for us. It is never easy when there are injuries. Nitish (Reddy) is missing and Akash is also unavailable for this match. (But) we have good enough players to take 20 wickets."
Gill also assured that the management of the team is sure Karun Nair would be able to reverse his form. Nair has achieved just 131 runs from three Tests played at Headingley, Edgbaston and Lord's at an average of shade short of 22.
"We think he is batting well. First match he didn't play at his number. No issues with his batting. Once you are able to get to 50 and get in the zone. We are hopeful that he can turn it around: Gill said on Nair, who so far produced scores of 0, 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14 in the first three Tests," Gill added.
He also confirmed that Rishabh Pant will be the designated wicketkeeper in the fourth test in Manchester. "Rishabh Pant will keep wickets in the fourth Test against England in Manchester," Gill said.
Pant was in the wicketkeeper role only for 35 overs in the third Test because of the injury with Dhruv Jurel fulfilling the responsibility for the remainder of the game.
Actually, Jurel had a disappointing experience behind the wickets in England's second innings, giving away 25 byes and the home team won the third Test by 22 runs.
