ENG v IND | Shardul Thakur ruled out of Lord’s Test with hamstring injury

Team India has received a major setback ahead of the second Test against England at Lord’s. Skipper Virat Kohli has confirmed that Shardul Thakur will not be available for selection, having sustained a left hamstring injury. The right-arm quick is expected to recover by the third Test at Headingley.

The 29-year-old had a decent outing in the first Test against England at Trent Bridge, where he picked up two wickets in each innings. Although Virat Kohli has stated that he will continue with the 4-1 seam-spin combination for Lord’s test, the option of playing Ravichandran Ashwin as a spin-bowling all-rounder can’t be disregarded. Ashwin’s inclusion will possibly lend more balance to the team, considering that India might end up with a long tail otherwise.

However, the swing and seam friendly conditions leave a good case for a like for like replacement too, with the experienced Ishant Sharma and Umesh yadav waiting in the wings. Ishant especially, will be a tough candidate to overlook, given his experience and the impressive returns during the last trip in 2018. The Delhi quick was India’s star performer in India’s last win at Lord’s, in 2014, when his 7/74 in the fourth innings had powered India to a 95-run win.

Ishant has been through several fitness Tests over the last week or so, after he had missed out of the World Test Championship final against New Zealand earlier this season. On Monday, he was reported to have bowled for more than an hour, followed by a long batting session, receiving throwdowns from the India batting coach Vikram Rathour.

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