(Photo: Getty Images)
By Harvey Burgess
The India selectors will meet in Mumbai tomorrow to pick the squad for the forthcoming five-Test series against England, which begins a week tomorrow in Rajkot.
Coming into the back of the series off a 3-0 victory against New Zealand, the selectors will be unlikely to change the squad too much.
However, injuries to two of the side’s possible openers, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan, opens up the possibility of another inclusion for Gautham Gambhir, who scored a total of 4 runs across both innings in the final Test against the Kiwis.
The 35-year-old has since scored 147 in a first-class game for Delhi and so the possibility of a call-up for up-and-coming Karun Nair looks increasingly unlikely.
Pace bowler Ishant Sharma is expected to be recalled to the squad after missing out on the New Zealand series due to illness. The side’s current fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav combined well in the New Zealand series and it remains to be seen whether India will want to select another seamer on what is expected to be a spin-friendly pitch in Rajkot.
These options aside, the selectors are likely to opt for a similar squad for the demanding series, which sees five Tests played in just under six weeks.
