He played the initial three games at Headingley, Edgbaston, and Lord’s before warming the bench in the last match.
Karun Nair has earned another chance after being dropped for the fourth Test in Manchester due to a series of low scores. He played the initial three games at Headingley, Edgbaston, and Lord’s before warming the bench in the last match.
LCC
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WIM
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GUI
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WIM
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LCC
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CPP
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CPP
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GUI
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LCC
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GUI
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SLG
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PIR
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GCC
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RUCC
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SLG
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GCC
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RUCC
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PIR
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SLG
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RUCC
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GCC
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PIR
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SLG
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BCC
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NAJC
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91YC
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BNC
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KUMS
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SBSCC
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KGC
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JJ
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KRMPS
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TBC
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SEL
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JOR
168/5
KELN
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MEL
101/5
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SRAK
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PHG
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SEL
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JOR
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PUT
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EAE
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WI
164/7
PAK
178/6
Pakistan beat West Indies by 14 runs
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WIU19-W
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USAU19-W
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SAC
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Then, Sai Sudharsan replaced him at No.3 and impressed immediately with a fine fifty in the first innings in Manchester. However, Nair has been recalled for the final Test at the expense of Shardul Thakur, who has been mediocre with both bat and ball this series.
Nair will likely bat at No.5, a position held by Rishabh Pant, who has been ruled out of the contest due to a fractured toe. Dhruv Jurel, who will do the wicketkeeping duties, will likely bat at No.7, just below Ravindra Jadeja.
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Nair has had starts in every game but failed to convert them into big scores, as his average of 21.83 in this series suggests. Initially, he batted at No.6 in the first contest at Headingley before being promoted to No.3 for the next two fixtures, but Nair failed to make a substantial score, opening the way for Sudharsan again.
One conscious effort from India in this series has been to maintain the batting depth, even if that comes at the expense of key bowlers not playing. They have maintained the same tactic for this game, but opted for an extra batter rather than an all-rounder to prolong the batting now.
The pitch has more grass than the previous four games, and pacers will get more assistance, meaning they have opted for fewer bowlers than batters. The current thinking suggests that India expect three specialist pacers, along with two spinners, to do the job on this surface.
However, they will require more batters on this pitch since it can be tricky to bat, especially in the first innings. Furthermore, India are without Rishabh Pant, who has been one of their best batters this series, and the batting unit has certainly taken a massive hit.
So, they want to have more cushion in the batting department and have as many options as possible to avoid getting bundled for a below-par score, which has happened a few times in this series before. Hence, Karun Nair gets another chance to showcase his ability and prove his selection call correct.
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel(w), Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue
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