Sanjay Manjrekar has termed opener KL Rahul missing the upcoming rescheduled fifth Test against England due to a groin injury, a ‘massive setback’ for the Indian team as they currently engage in a four-day warmup game against Leicestershire.
Rahul had made 315 runs with a stunning 129 in the first innings at Lord's, becoming one of the main architects of a famous victory during the series which India leads 2-1 and the last Test will begin on July 1 in Edgbaston.
Rohit Sharma will be captaining the Indian team this time in England, while KL Rahul, who was the vice-captain for this tour, will miss out entirely due to a groin injury for which he will go to Germany for treatment.
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Former India cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar believes batting will be a big challenge for the visitors at Edgbaston and called Rahul missing out a "massive setback".
"It was just the remarkable effort of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma at the top that saw India put up good enough scores to get the bowling make a match out of it and get that scoreline 2-1. This time around, with KL Rahul missing out, it's a massive setback for India. But there is hope in selection of Shreyas Iyer, if he gets a game and hopefully Hanuma Vihari figures as well; Cheteshwar Pujara is making a comeback.
India have the resources to fill that void. But when you look at India's seam bowling, there is quality there and quality options as well for them to choose from apart from two spinners. Batting, like last time, will be the big challenge," said Manjrekar in a virtual interaction organized by Sony Sports.
KL Rahul was in a very good form for India in England the last time and in his absence, Shubman Gill is expected to open the innings for India alongside Rohit Sharma.
"Because it's a one-off Test match and India haven't played one in a long time in England as they are going there after one year. The team management and all of us know that the big challenge for India is to get minimum 300 runs in the first innings and hopefully, another big score in the second innings.
Whatever the team composition is planned out, they will always be looking to address the batting issues; and with KL Rahul missing being a huge blow for India, if you look at top five or six, you are sort of worried about the batting as you don't have a situation where you have a number three, four, five all in great form," elaborated Manjrekar.
(IANS inputs)
