India monitoring injuries, to name XI on Friday

 India have not named their playing XI for the fourth Test against Australia and will be announcing it on Friday before the match starts at The Gabba as they are monitoring the injuries of the players.

This was informed by batting coach Vikram Rathour on Thursday.

Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is suffering from an abdominal strain and is a doubtful starter for the series decider. If he doesn’t play, the visitors can bring in Shardul Thakur to join Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini in the pace department.

With KL Rahul returning home due to a wrist injury and Mayank Agarwal hit on the hand at the nets, India also face a dilemma as they look to bring in someone to replace Hanuma Vihari, who injured his hamstring during the drawn third Test and is unlikely to play as the No. 6 batsman.

There are also concerns over Ravichandran Ashwin’s fitness as he woke up with a back tweak on the final day of the Sydney Test and then suffered a hit on his ribs by a short delivery from Pat Cummins.

Ravindra Jadeja has already been ruled out with a fractured thumb.

Meanwhile, Australia have already announced their playing XI in which they have replaced injured Will Pucovski with Marcus Harris.

The four-match series is currently tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide while India winning the second in Melbourne.

Australia XI: David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (c & wk), Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.

India Test squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, T Natarajan