With India in the middle of their long Test calendar, which still has eight Tests remaining as part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle, the management is bound to keep back-ups ready amid injury concerns and workload management. Hence, as many as four travelling reserves were named when the selectors picked the 15-member squad for the upcoming home Test series against New Zealand, which begins on Wednesday in Bengaluru. And India captain Rohit Sharma reckoned that they might travel to Australia as well for the Border-Gavaskar series next month, with a possibility of a Test debut as well.
Rohit’s comment came in the wake of a delayed recovery of Mohammed Shami, who incurred a fresh knee injury while in rehabilitation at the NCA in Bengaluru, and a shoulder injury to left-arm quick Yash Dayal, who was earlier picked for the Bangladesh Test series last month.
“When it comes to batting, there are a lot of options. We want to create the same in bowling as well. We want to create bench strength where tomorrow if anything happens to anyone, we are not worried,” Rohit said on the eve of the first Test against New Zealand.
“We don’t want to heavily reliant on a few individuals. That is not the right thing to do. We want to look at the future and try and make sure we get the right guys in as well,” he added.
Hence, it was less surprising when the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee picked four reserves for the New Zealand Tests – fast bowlers Mayank Yadav, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Rohit explained that he and the rest of the Indian team management reckoned that they wanted these fringe players to be around the Indian team so that when the opportunity presents, they could make an impactful debut, much like how the reserves played a vital role during India’s last tour of Australia in 2020/21. At one point in that series, when India claimed a historic win, Mohammed Siraj, who made his debut earlier in the second Test, was the leader of the pace attack in the final match in Brisbane after the visitors lost most of their key players due to injuries.
“So tomorrow, if we feel like they are ready to take that role (replacing an injured pacer), they should be ready for it. They have obviously played a few games before we made this announcement. They have played the Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy as well. So, we just want to make sure that they are monitored quite well. Their workloads have been taken care of,” said Rohit.
“In the short period of time, they have shown they have ability as well. We want to keep them with the team and see whether they will be ready for international cricket or not. Especially Test cricket because Test cricket is a different ball game compared to white ball cricket. We want to see what they can offer us,” he noted.
The four reserves to travel to South Africa next month
The aforementioned four will look to make the most of the opportunity next month when they travel to South Africa for a bilateral T20I series, before going to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar series.
“Sometimes you have to fast-track someone. That is only in the betterment of Indian cricket. We want to create guys where even if there are injuries, we have someone to quickly step in and take that role. Nitish (Reddy) and Harshit (Rana) both are talented individuals.
“In the future, they are going to provide a lot of stability. So, it’s always nice to just have them around and see their mindset,” said Rohit.
