India have had a lot of injury concerns of late. Various players have sustained injuries, which has resulted in them struggling to find replacements and thus, have had to play without their full strength team. While Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out and Jasprit Bumrah also unlikely to be fit in time for Friday, India have been dealt another blow as Mayank Agarwal took a blow in the nets too. According to PTI, Mayank could have a hairline fracture. Mayank, who was tipped to replace the injured Hanuma Vihari, picked up the knock during a training session in Melbourne.
India is also fretting over the back spasms of ace spinner R Ashwin, who was part of the heroic fight back at Sydney. The problem with the Indian team is after injured KL Rahul’s departure and Hanuma Vihari’s grade 2 tear, there are no back-up middle-order batsmen left in the reserves. The only two available batsmen are two out of form openers in Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal. If Agarwal’s scans reveal that it’s a bruise and not a fracture, then it could well be Prithvi Shaw batting at number three followed by Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajhinkya Rahane and Agarwal himself at number six. India go into the final Test match with a lot of concerns and it is too be seen if Mayan Agarwal amz Ravichandran Ashwin prove themselves fit enough to feature in the final Test match. These are not at all welcomes news for Team India as they have already lost Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul to injuries. Rohit Sharma also missed the starting two matches due to injuries, while senior most pacer Ishant Sharma could not even travel to Australia.
Intensity of losing Jasprit Bumrah for the 4th and decisive Test match is even more considering that talismanic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who suffered a dislocated thumb after being hit by a Mitchell Starc bouncer, will travel back to India and head to NCA after consulation with doctors in Sydney. It will be interesting to see who between Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan gets a debut chance in Brisbane. The are also chances of both the players making their debut in the same Test match. A point to be noted is that despite all the injuries, their replacements have done a decent job.
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