Dharamsala, India

Batter Devdutt Padikkal is in line to make his Test debut in the fifth and final match against England in Dharamsala, starting March 7, as per the latest reports. The left-handed batter, who plays in the top order for his Ranji Team and in the IPL, will replace under-performing Rajat Patidar in the middle-order for the last match of the series. With KL Rahul ruled out of the Dharamsala Test, Padikkal and Sarfaraz Khan will take up the lower middle-order slots.

Advertisment

Rajat Patidar, included in the playing XI for injured KL Rahul from the second Test onwards, scored 32, 9, 5, 0, 17 and 0 in his six innings, pushing the selectors to replace him with another prospect for the fifth Test.

Though the selectors were keen on releasing Padikkal ahead of the Dharamsala game to feature in Madhya Pradesh’s Ranji Trophy semi-final tie against Mumbai, they decided against doing so because of KL Rahul’s status. 

However, with several top players remaining unavailable for selection for respective reasons, including Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and ousted duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, the BCCI picked youngsters to fill in those slots. 

Advertisment

ALSO READ: IND v ENG: Jasprit Bumrah rejoins Team India as BCCI name squad for Dharamsala Test

While Shubman Gill played at number three throughout the series, even hitting a hundred in the second innings at Rajkot, Patidar and Khan played in the lower middle order.

Though the selectors played KS Bharat in the first two matches, his mediocre outings with the bat forced them to play Dhruv Jurel in his place for the next two games. Their punt paid dividends as Jurel helped India win the fourth Test in Ranchi with his match-winning knocks of 90 and unbeaten 32 in the first and second innings, respectively.

Advertisment

Time for 4-1 thrashing

Having won the previous three Tests, India claimed the five-match series 3-1. With Dharamsala playing a dead rubber, India cannot drop their guards as the World Test Championship points are at stake. While India sits in the second position, touring England is reeling in the bottom half at the eighth position.

If India wins the final Test, they will end this series with a 4-1 scoreline in their favour, strengthening their position on the WTC points table.

Here is the 16-man squad for the Dharamsala Test –

Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep