Sai Sudharsan replaced Karun Nair in the playing XI at Old Trafford.
India made three changes to their playing XI for the penultimate Test against England, which got underway on Wednesday (July 22) at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Two changes were forced due to injuries as Anshul Kamboj and Shardul Thakur replaced Akash Deep and Nitish Kumar Reddy, respectively. One unforced change also took place, with Sai Sudharsan replacing struggling Karun Nair in the line-up.
Nair, who earned his place in the Indian Test side after eight years following a prolific domestic season, showed class in first three Tests but failed to convert his starts into meaningful scores. His scores in six innings were 0, 20, 31, 26, 40 and 14.
After a string of low scores, Nair’s spot in the side came under scrutiny and he eventually had to make way for young Sudharsan.
However, former cricketer Mohammad Kaif slammed the decision from the Indian team management. In a post on X, he criticized skipper Shubman Gill for not giving Nair one more chance.
"Today was Shubman Gill's chance to back Karun (Nair) who was down but deserved one more chance. He should have picked Karun Nair. Chance missed to earn the respect when it comes to making tough decisions as a leader," Kaif wrote.
Notably, Sai Sudharsan was sidelined from the XI after his low scores on Test debut at Headingley. In the series opener, the southpaw batted at No. 3 and returned with scores of 0 and 30.
India are currently 1-2 behind in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. They can’t afford to lose any more matches or the series will be gone.