An injury to Shardul Thakur may open up a spot for Ashwin Ravichandran as India eye an improved batting performance in the second Test against England, which starts at the Lord’s Cricket Ground on Thursday.

While India were in a better position to win the first Test before rain washed out the final day, the visitors would want their middle order of captain Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to get back amongst the runs at Lord’s.

Also read – Staying in the moment: Patient Jasprit Bumrah finds his zone

As far as the team combination is concerned, Thakur’s hamstring injury will lead to another selection headache as India try to get their balance right.

Ashwin, who was dropped from the playing XI in the drawn opening game in Nottingham because of Ravindra Jadeja’s impressive form with the bat, is back in the mix as Thakur seemed to have done his hamstring some damage during the training session at Lord’s on Monday. It’s not clear whether he picked up the injury during the first Test or not.

If Kohli decides to stick with four pacers, then one among Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav could replace Thakur but the choice might not be that easy.

“Most likely it will be a template going ahead [4-1 combination], but we’ve always been adaptable as well, to the conditions and pace of the wicket,” Kohli had said after the first Test.

London has been recording a maximum temperature of 24 degrees with average temperature around 14 degrees. It would be interesting to see if England retain a green top like they did in 2018 when the Indian batting collapsed twice in two days and all-rounder Chris Woakes walked away with the honours.

England captain Joe Root had to come to his team’s rescue in the opening Test with a fifty in the first innings and possibly a match-saving 21st Test hundred in the second essay.

There is a possibility that Rory Burns could be replaced by Haseeb Hameed, who scored a hundred opening the innings for the Combined Counties against India in the tour game last month.

England are likely to miss their senior pacers James Anderson and Stuart Broad due to injuries. Which, of course, will be a massive disadvantage to the hosts. Broad had injured his right calf muscle during a training session.

England added Lancashire seam bowler Saqib Mahmood in the squad as cover with ECB informing that spinner Dom Bess will be leaving the squad and returning to Yorkshire.

Moeen Ali, who did well against India in 2014 and 2018, has been added to the squad and England also have the option of picking fast bowler mark Wood.

For India, KL Rahul would like to consolidate his position at the top of the order even though Mayank Agarwal being back in the nets is a welcome sign for India.

Also read – First Test: In tough conditions, KL Rahul showed India the way

Squads

India: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav.

England: Joe Root, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Dom Sibley, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood.

The second England-India Test starts at 3:30 pm IST on Wednesday, August 12.

(With inputs from PTI)