Mayank Agarwal dominated out of first Test, No.3 Pujara to not be promoted: Ajinkya Rahane

India have a gap drawback after Mayank Agarwal is dominated out of the primary Test towards England with a head damage. Two days previous to the primary Test, Agarwal was hit on the helmet on the nets and suffered concussion. The BCCI has knowledgeable that the 30-year-old is “stable” however he’ll stay beneath “close medical attention”. With the primary Test of the five-match collection beginning at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, India want to seek out a gap accomplice for Rohit Sharma.
Agarwal was the like-for-like substitute for the injured Shubman Gill whose England tour was lower brief following a stress damage on his left leg. KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran are the 2 designated opening choices out there to the group administration to accomplice Rohit. The BCCI has despatched Prithvi Shaw, together with Suryakumar Yadav, to England however he can be out there solely from the second Test onwards after serving a compulsory 10-day quarantine interval.

Latest photos of immediately’s apply periods and this isn’t signal – And Mayank Agarwal was hit by a ball in his head and he needed to depart the apply in halfway. pic.twitter.com/uc5VL1mAcq
— CricketMAN2 (@man4_cricket) August 2, 2021
India have misplaced their final three Test collection in England and the opening void is a setback for the vacationers forward of the Trent Bridge Test. Two days out, the pitch seems to be inexperienced and the circumstances are anticipated to be lopsided in favour of England. Rahul hasn’t performed a Test for shut to 2 years now however he’s contemporary from a 101, batting at No. 5, towards County Select XI – a warm-up fixture within the lead-up to the primary Test. Interestingly, the selectors picked him for the tour as a middle-order selection.
Easwaran has been with the squad for 2 months now however he’s severely undercooked, having performed his final first-class sport in early March 2020.
This would possibly pressure the Indian group administration to contemplate a makeshift possibility, though vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane dominated out the potential of Cheteshwar Pujara opening the innings with Rohit. Pujara has opened in Tests earlier than, scoring 348 runs in 4 matches, together with 100, in that place. Also, within the warm-up sport towards County Select XI, he got here as an opener within the second innings and scored 38. Pujara has the approach to blunt James Anderson and firm in swing-friendly circumstances. But the group administration seems to be reluctant to vary his batting order.
“See, Pujara is our No. 3 batsman. Who will open the innings, we are finalising our combination. It’s not finalised yet. Pujara has been really solid for us as (a) No. 3 batsman, so he will continue to bat at No. 3. But as an opening pair, obviously captain, coach (and) management will decide the combination and you will get to know soon,” Rahane mentioned at a press convention on Monday.
Hanuma Vihari, too, has opened the innings in Tests earlier than. Three years in the past in Melbourne, he partnered Agarwal on the prime in a Boxing Day Test and scored eight and 13 within the two innings. The benefit for Vihari is that he has executed a good bedding-in for the England collection with a brief county stint for Warwickshire, the place he largely batted at No. 3. He additionally acquired some worthwhile batting minutes through the warm-up sport, coming at No. 4 and No. 3 respectively within the two innings. It must be seen if Vihari pairs up with Rohit at Trent Bridge.