How India should cope with the absence of Ishant Sharma and Ravi Ashwin in the 1st Test

India might miss the services of both Ashwin and Ishant in the first test against South Africa

India will have a task on their hands when they will face the might of the South Africans in the test series.Perhaps the best travelers in cricket, Proteas are likely to put forward a tough challenge in front of the Indian team in the test series. But India might have to go in the first match of the series without the services of their two best bowlers, namely Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma.

Ishant Sharma has only himself to blame for not being a part of the first test, unnecessary bouts of aggression in the test series against Sri Lanka have ruled him out of the first test while Ravichandran Ashwin suffered a side strain while fielding in the first ODI against South Africa when he is in arguably the form of his life. A question that has surfaced now is that how India should cope with the potential absence of these two bowlers. Let’s try and find out the solutions to this conundrum.

Pick Pragyan Ojha in the team

Pragyan Ojha formed a lethal spin bowling pair with Ravichandran Ashwin for some years. But when India had a host of matches abroad, he wasn’t picked in the eleven and then he had problems with his action.

Ojha has now remodeled his action and is playing for Bengal in the Ranji trophy. He also picked up a five for against Australia A while playing for India A in a first class match recently. With Harbhajan Singh looking out of colour in the test setup, Ojha seems to be the best bet as a replacement for Ravichandran Ashwin and he can also play as the third spinner in the home conditions when Ashwin is fit.

Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron should be the two seamers

Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav were the only frontline seamers India played in their last test. In the absence of Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron seems to be the best replacement.The pace of Varun Aaron is always an asset and though his accuracy is an issue but the more he plays the more accurate he should get.

Somebody who has got raw pace should be persisted with by the Indian team management as they come rarely in the Indian circuit. Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be unlucky to miss out but at his pace and in conditions which offer not much assistance to swing bowling, he will struggle to trouble the Proteas batsmen.The only place he can come in the team is at number seven but then the batting will become weak.

Play with seven batsmen

With the bowling seemingly weakened with the absence of Ashwin and Ishant, India should pick six specialist batsmen and a keeper to at least strengthen the batting. Cheteshwar Pujara should play at the number three spot with Rahane and Rohit at number five and six.

Playing Stuart Binny might weaken the batting and add pretty less to the bowling considering the quality of South African batting. So it seems a better option to play with an extra batsman instead of a bits and pieces cricketer to pose a better challenge against a quality side.The job of the fifth bowler can be shared by Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay.

Playing South Africa in any conditions is a tough ask and playing them without the services of your two best bowlers only adds to the problem. India should cope with it by playing Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha as the four bowlers and playing six specialist batsmen with the keeper coming in at the number seven spot.Though India will miss Ashwin and Ishant, the team management will hope that their replacements can do the job in their absence.