While Team India fielded 20 different cricketers during the recently held Test series in Australia due to a plethora of injuries, they are facing other headaches while picking the playing XI for the opening Test against England, starting February 5 in Chennai.

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Veteran pacer Ishant Sharma, who missed the Australia tour with a side strain injury, is back in the squad and he is getting tough competition from newcomer Mohammed Siraj for the second pacer’s slot.

Considering the nature of the traditional Chepauk wicket, the hosts might go with two pacers and three spinners for the series opener.

"The pitch is a typical Chepauk wicket. No English feel or anything. In this humidity, you need to have grass on the wicket so that it doesn’t break up that easily. This wicket will help spinners as it always has been the case," a BCCI source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

The team management will have to make a tough call on who would partner pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who has fully recovered from a groin strain and is ready to lead the pace attack.

However, there are question marks over Ishant’s match readiness as he has not played red-ball cricket for almost a year. In fact, the lanky pacer recently made a comeback to competitive cricket, bowling a total of 14.1 overs in the four Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches.

On the other hand, Siraj proved his mettle during the recently held Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He made his debut in the second Test at MCG and played a key role in India’s 2-1 series win over the hosts.

The right-arm speedster took 13 wickets in the series at an average of 29.53, including a maiden five-wicket haul (5/73) to script the visitors’ three-wicket victory in the decider at the Gabba.

According to PTI, bowling coach Bharat Arun will take a call after observing the two bowlers in question for the next couple of days.

(With PTI inputs)