Ahead of the third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, which is scheduled to start at Lord’s in London on Thursday, July 10, former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan has announced his playing XIs for both India and England. After India’s resounding 336-run victory at Edgbaston, the five-match Test series is now tied at one.
The former all-rounder stated on his YouTube channel that India’s batting lineup doesn’t need many adjustments. He backed Karun Nair to stay at No. 3 despite his previous troubles and projected that KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal will open the innings.
Nair only needs a solid knock to get back in the running, according to Irfan Pathan.
He went on to say that after making important contributions in the previous two games, in-form hitters Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill should stay in their respective positions. Nitish Kumar Reddy was demoted to No. 7 by Irfan, while Ravindra Jadeja was placed at No. 6. Even though Reddy hasn’t scored any runs in either of the first two innings, Irfan thinks he will get better with time in England.
Irfan added Jasprit Bumrah to the XI along with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep to finish the pace attack after Gill confirmed that Bumrah would return for the Lord’s Test following a well-earned break.
Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley would remain England’s openers, according to Irfan, while Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, and skipper Ben Stokes would occupy the middle-order spots. At number seven, he selected batsman-wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.
Irfan added Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse to the bowling attack because Lord’s usually provides more support to pacers. In addition, he dropped spinners Shoaib Bashir and youthful Josh Tongue from the starting lineup in favour of Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson, both of whom were recovering from injuries.
India’s Irfan Pathan-predicted starting lineup for the third test
Karun Nair, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, and Yashasvi Jaiswal
England’s Irfan Pathan-predicted starting lineup for the third test
Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, and Zak Crawley
India
