Permutation and combination test for India

New Indian Express

6 days ago

MANCHESTER: Unlike Sunday, it was a bright and sunny morning here at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Monday. The surface, which had been under cover due to rain, probably saw the sunlight for the first time in many days.
Despite it being a cheerful day with a lot of happenings on the field, India pacer Akash Deep looked seemingly lost in his thoughts. He was leaning on a roller with padded-up Abhimanyu Easwaran and Dhruv Jurel to his company even as other India pacers were whizzing past him to bowl in the nets at the Trafford Cricket Centre.
Be it Jasprit Bumrah or Mohammed Siraj or Shardul Thakur or Prasidh Krishna or new addition to the squad Anshul Kamboj, everybody was going full throttle. The pacers were also seen chatting with Akash Deep while waiting for their turn to bowl but the Bengal bowler's mind seemed to be somewhere else.
Earlier, he bowled quite a few balls on the surface adjacent to the main square with coach Gautam Gambhir, chief selector Ajit Agarkar and a few others in attendance. Starting with zero run up, he gradually increased it to gain the momentum and pace. But that was it once the team members shifted to adjoining practice nets. Akash Deep, who reportedly has a groin injury casting a doubt on his appearance, was just a spectator even as his teammates toiled.
As was reported on Sunday, the BCCI on Monday morning clarified that Andhra all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been ruled out of the series with a knee injury and Arshdeep Singh too was out of contention for the next match due to impact injury on his bowling thumb but the Indian cricket board didn't give any update on Akash Deep. However, it was evidently clear from the net session that the 28-year-old is unlikely to be a part of the game.
His absence coupled with injuries to Reddy and Arshdeep forced the visitors to fly in Kamboj to join the squad. The Haryana seamer not only bowled for almost an hour but also batted alongside Thakur for more than 30 minutes giving indication that he might be in line to make his India debut. Kamboj has played 24 first class matches claiming 79 wickets so far. He was also part of India A team which played two matches against England Lions before the five-match series started. The 24-year-old right-arm bowler picked up five wickets and scored an unbeaten 51 in the second game in Northampton.