Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has picked India’s playing XI for the fourth Test match against England. Manjrekar dropped under-fire Karun Nair from his team. Nair returned with scores of 40 and 14 in the third Test match as he once again could not deliver for the visitors. The 33-year-old has scored 131 runs in three Test matches against England in this series at an average of 21.83.
Manjrekar wants team management to back Sai Sudharsan at one drop. The left-hander had made his Test debut against England in the opening Test of the series at Leeds, Headingley and returned with scores of 0 and 30.
Manjrekar also included Dhruv Jurel in his playing XI as he feels Pant will play purely as a batter. Jurel had kept wickets in the third Test after Pant suffered a finger injury.
Meanwhile, Manjrekar noted that India would be tempted to play Kuldeep Yadav but they won’t go that route. Yadav has scalped 56 wickets in 13 Test matches at an impressive average of 22.16. Against England, Kuldeep has bagged 21 wickets in six Test matches at an impressive average of 22.28 but he hasn’t been given his chance in the first three Test matches.
Sanjay Manjrekar said on Instagram, “Kuldeep Yadav, as the third spinner, is a very, very tempting offer, but India won’t go there. And you can understand them not going there. In the past, India have played three spinners in overseas conditions, but that was in the past. Unlikely to happen in 2025.”
Sanjay Manjrekar’s India playing XI for 4th Test: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Anshul Kamboj/Prasidh Krishna.
The fourth Test match between England and India will be played at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, from July 23 onwards.
