In a week where they endured a heartbreaking 22-run defeat in the third Test against England at Lord's, India have a bit of optimism as they look forward to the next game at Old Trafford. Vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who suffered a finger injury at Lord's, is expected to be fit and available for selection.
The left-hander along with pace ace Jasprit Bumrah were the star attractions on Thursday (July 17) as India undertook their net sessions at the Kent County Cricket Ground in Beckenham. The duo, however, didn't participate in practice but were seen performing light warm up sessions before hitting the gym for maintaining their fitness. Mohammed Siraj, who has also endured a hefty workload over the last 12 months, was the another Indian player to not hit the nets.
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Pant and Bumrah were seen having a fun banter between them even as their teammates indulged in high-intensity nets sessions. During one of those sessions, left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh suffered an injury to his left hand as he tried to stop the ball hit by Sai Sudharsan. Due to the force of the stroke and impact on the finger, Arshdeep suffered a cut but assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate maintained that it wasn't serious.
"Yeah, he took a ball while he was bowling there, Sai had a ball and he tried to stop it and it's just a cut, so we have to see how bad the cut is," said ten Doeschate to the PTI. "Obviously the medical team has taken him off to see a doctor and obviously if he needs stitches or doesn't need stitches that's going to be important to our planning for the next few days."
With Bumrah expected to play, the Indian camp might ponder about giving a break to Siraj who has been bowling non-stop in the recent past. Should the Hyderabad pacer be rested due to workload management, Arshdeep seems the frontrunner to take that spot unless the think tank give a comeback to Prasidh Krishna. Both the incumbents were bowling in alternate nets at the same time when Arshdeep suffered his injury.
