Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami are in a race against the clock to get healthy in time for the two-match Test series that will be played against Bangladesh beginning on December 14 in Chattogram. Both players were unable to participate in the most recent one-day international series due to injury.
In the event that they were unable to compete, India would most likely turn to Saurabh Kumar and Navdeep Saini of Uttar Pradesh to take their place. Both Saurabh and Saini are now travelling with India A’s team to Bangladesh as part of the tour.
Both Jadeja and Shami are dealing with injuries, Jadeja having undergone knee surgery earlier this year in September and Shami having issues with his shoulder.
After returning home from Australia, where India competed in the T20 World Cup semi-finals a month ago, Shami suffered the injury while participating in a training session shortly thereafter.
There is a possibility that Saurabh, a left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh, will make his first appearance in place of Jadeja. He has maintained a consistent level of performance in the Ranji Trophy, and in the unofficial test series that is now being played against Bangladesh A, he has taken ten wickets while averaging 15.30 runs per wicket.
As shown on Thursday at Sylhet against the Bangladesh A team, Saurabh is also able to contribute with the bat at a lower position in the batting order. He scored 55 runs off of just 39 balls.
In the event that Saini is given the opportunity, he will be one of India’s choices for the series alongside Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, and Mohammed Siraj. After suffering a thumb injury in the second one-day international match that took place in Mirpur on Wednesday, Rohit Sharma’s availability for the first Test match of the series is uncertain.
Ravindra Jadeja has been sidelined because of a knee issue that required the southpaw to have surgery. The problem occurred when Ravindra Jadeja was bowling.
Following that, Rohit travelled to Mumbai in order to consult with a doctor; however, the BCCI has not yet provided an update on the progression of his injury.
After India was defeated in the one-day international series by a score of 2-0, Rohit voiced his anger with the rising injury list for India. In addition to him, the list includes Deepak Chahar, who has a hamstring injury, and Kuldeep Sen, who has a back strain.
India was defeated in the second one-day international match of the series by Bangladesh by a score of five runs to give Bangladesh its second victory in the 50-over format series against the men in blue.