3 Players for whom the Afghanistan Test is important

The Indian Test team has been at the top of the ICC rankings for almost couple of years now. After having a very successful season at home in 2016-17, the team faltered in the first assignment outside Asia losing the series against South Africa 2-1.

Although the team lost the series, there were enough glimpses of their potential to succeed in the seaming and bouncy conditions. They fought back well on a difficult pitch at the Wanderers to secure a consolation victory.

Team India now has a couple of difficult overseas tours of England and Australia in the second half of the year. Prior to that, the team will play a solitary Test against Afghanistan at Bangalore.

The selectors rested the pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah in addition to the regular captain Virat Kohli, who could not feature in his planned county stint due to an injury, for the Afghanistan Test.

With Rohit Sharma dropped and Wriddhiman Saha also injured, there is an opportunity for the players who have been in the reserves to stake a claim in the regular playing XI. Here, let us take a look at the players for whom the Afghanistan Test is very important taking into account the England tour ahead.

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#1 Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav has been in a great rhythm recently

Umesh Yadav played a vital role during the great home run of Team India supporting the spinners with vital breakthroughs.

He maintained great fitness level and played 12 out of the 13 Tests in the season bowling with good pace and an improved control over his lines and lengths. Umesh established himself as the leader of the pace attack snaring 17 wickets against Australia in four matches.

After being lauded as the most improved Indian bowler of the season, Umesh was seen primarily as the Test-specialist with the selectors managing the workload of the pacers.

He was rested for the shorter formats against Sri Lanka and could get just a single game in the ODI series against Australia.

In the Tests, he was among the first choice fast bowlers for the Sri Lanka series, both away and home, but did not have great numbers returning with just 11 wickets in five matches.

With Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma performing better than him, the Vidarbha pacer lost his spot in Test XI too.

Jasprit Bumrah too got an opportunity to play during the tour to South Africa because of his unusual action and the variety he provided to the attack.

Yadav also did not get enough chances to represent his domestic team Vidarbha during their title-winning season being a part of the national squad.

Representing Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, Yadav was in a great rhythm and was fourth leading wicket-taker with 20 wickets.

With the long tour of England coming up, the Afghanistan Test provides him a great opportunity to secure a berth in the first-choice playing XI.

#2 Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik has a good record in Tests in England

Dinesh Karthik has been in exceptional form in all forms of the game for the past couple of seasons. He made a comeback to the national side for the limited-over formats on the back of some stupendous performances in the domestic circuit.

Although the opportunities in the Indian side have been limited, Karthik has been pretty effective averaging 61.00 in ODIs and a whopping 84.50 in T20Is (excluding the match for ICC World XI against Windies).

Coming in to bat with 34 runs required in 12 balls, he played a blazing knock of 29 not out in just eight deliveries and won India the final of the Nidahas Trophy against Bangladesh.

Captaining the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, DK continued his good form scoring 498 runs at an average of 49.80. In the longer format, he amassed 291 runs in the three matches of the Duleep Trophy which included a couple of centuries.

In the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season, he scored 704 runs at an average of 54.15, but, could play just a single match in the previous season due to him being a part of the Indian team.

With Wriddhiman Saha injured, the Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper was called in as a replacement for the Afghanistan Test ahead of Parthiv Patel, who has been a reserve wicket-keeper for the past couple of years.

Considering his good technique and a great record in England (263 runs at an average of 43.83), Karthik is a better option to make it to the squad as a reserve batsman and wicket-keeper and a good performance against Afghanistan will enable him to stake a claim to be considered as a first choice wicket-keeper.

#3 Karun Nair

Karun Nair deserves a longer run in the Test team

Karun Nair had a marvelous start to his Test career when he registered a triple century against England in just his third Test.

He became the second Indian after Virender Sehwag to achieve the distinction, but, was dropped in the very next match with the vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane returning from an injury.

Karun was subsequently given opportunities in the three Tests against Australia in March 2017, but, had a slump in form and could muster just 54 runs.

The poor form continued in the Indian Premier League 2017 too and he found himself out of national contention with Rohit Sharma also making a comeback from an injury. The Karnataka batsman performed decently on the tour to South Africa with the ‘A’ team and also got a century in the Duleep Trophy that followed.

He was prolific in the Ranji Trophy season amassing 612 runs at an average of 68.00 which included three centuries.

With Rohit performing well against Sri Lanka and India opting for an all-round option in Hardik Pandya instead of a frontline batsman, Karun missed out on a berth in the squad to South Africa despite having a good domestic season.

Now, with Rohit dropped after an ordinary series against South Africa and Virat Kohli also missing out, Karun has a chance to perform well and secure a place in the squad for the England series.

He will also lead the India A team in England before the Test series and with a good technique, will be a useful option in the middle-order.

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Which of these players will leave their mark on the test match against Afghanistan? Sound off in the comments section below!