Gill All But Confirms 26-Year-Old's Debut; Gives Big Hint On Kuldeep, Bumrah

Shubman Gill, Indian cricket team captain, has all but confirmed that 26-year-old Arshdeep Singh, the left-arm pacer from Punjab, will play the fifth Test against England starting in London on Thursday. While Arshdeep Singh has played 63 T20Is (99 wickets) and nine ODIs (14 wickets), he is yet to play in the Test format. Come Thursday, Arshdeep is most likely to have his Test debut. Most probably, Anshul Kamboj will make way for Arshdeep in the XI. 

Gill also hinted that Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar will be the two front-line spinners, which means Kuldeep Yadav will most likely sit out of the fifth Test also. When asked whether Arshdeep Singh will debut and the fact that England have not gone with their front line spinner Liam Dawson for the fifth Test, the following was Shubman Gill's reply.    

"Arshdeep Singh has been asked to get ready but we will take a call on the Playing XI after looking at the pitch, by this evening. England haven't gone with a frontline spinner. Jacob Bethell and Joe Root - I think they are going to have their spinning options with them. We have Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who have such a good job with the ball and the bat. On their front, it's a no-brainer for us," Gill said in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

When asked why India have not gone with a specialist bowler and a batting line up that goes deep till No. 8, Gill said: "Washington, he is someone who has given us so much control with the bowling. His batting has been a really big plus for us. We are fortunate to have players like him in the team, who can prevent a collapse. With him we have improved that area."  

On Jasprit Bumrah, Gill did not conform whether the pacer is ruled out or not. "We will take a decision tomorrow, wicket looks very green. So let's see," he said.

"2-2 will be very significant for this team. Every match we have played, it was difficult to decide the winner after first four days. Series has been a great learning curve. Somethings you can learn from experience, hopefully finish on a high!"

"All the matches in this series have gone till the last session of the fifth day. I don't remember any such series."

India trail England 1-2 going into the final match of the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy.

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