There is no respite for the Indian cricket team on the injury front. The memorable win against Australia in the boxing day test turned a bit sour when Umesh Yadav left the pitch due to injury in the second innings. It turns out to be a serious injury for the pace bowler as he has been ruled out for the last two test matches of the Border Gavaskar trophy.
Shardul Thakur and T. Natarajan have been added to the test squad. India will have only one senior bowler in Jasprit Bumrah for the remainder of the series. Mohammed Siraj looks destined to play the last two games after an impressive debut in Melbourne last week. Navdeep Saini is also another option for the team management in the last two test matches.
This is the third injury to the pace bowling unit during this tour. Ishant Sharma couldn’t recover in time to be ready for this tour. Sharma had suffered a serious injury during the Indian Premier League. Mohammed Shami fractured his arm during the defeat in Adelaide as he suffered a blow to his hand while batting. In the batting department, Virat Kohli left the squad after the first test to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. Rohit Sharma also missed the first couple of tests since he was in quarantine.
Despite all these high-profile players missing games, India managed to roar back in the series after the Adelaide debacle. They outclassed Australia in every department during the boxing day test. They need to avoid defeat in the last two games to retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy. Australia is still firm favourites due to absentees for the Indian team, but the visitors will be buoyant after the remarkable victory in the second test.