Top order batsman Ajinkya Rahane will not be playing the fourth Test against England in Mumbai as he has sustained a fracture. And in the case of leading pace bowler Mohammed Shami, a final decision will be taken before the start of the fourth Test, as he had complained of soreness in his knee after the third Test.
"Manish Pandey has been included in the team as a replacement for Rahane. Mumbai medium pacer Shardul Thakur has been called as back up for India pacer Mohammed Shami, who is nursing a sore knee," a BCCI press release said.
Addressing the media on the eve of the fourth Test in which the hosts have taken a handy 2-0 lead, India captain Virat Kohli said that a call on whether the UP-born Bengal pace bowler will play will be taken on Wednesday evening.
“We are going to take a call in the evening in terms of how he [Mohammed Shami] is feeling with his knee. After the Mohali Test, he felt soreness in his knee. So we need to take a corrective call all on that,” said Kohli at the Wankhede Stadium here.
Shami had undergone a knee surgery after the last World Cup and was out of cricket for 15 months and Kohli said this was the reason the team did not want to push him to play if the bowler was not comfortable.
“Because he has a history of knee surgery, we don’t want to push a player to an extent where we lose him for the whole season. So we will take a call, as I said, in the evening, to how much rest he needs, or he can go for tomorrow as well.
Keeping out Rahane was a new development, though. A ball stuck him during the practice session and he sustained an avulsion fracture on his right index finger.