"India will think about that No. 3 position" - Ravi Shastri on playing 11 changes for ENG vs IND 2025 4th Test

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri believes the management must ponder replacing Karun Nair at the No. 3 position for the fourth Test against England in Manchester. The visitors suffered a gut-wrenching 22-run defeat in the third Test at Lord's to fall 1-2 behind in the best-of-five series.

Nair, who made a return to the Indian side after eight years in the ongoing England tour, has struggled to produce big scores. Despite getting starts on each occasion, the 33-year-old hasn't scored a half-century in six innings.

Nair has batted at No. 3 in the last two Tests after batting at No. 6 in the series opener.

Talking about possible changes to the Indian XI after the Lord's defeat, Shastri said on Sky Sports (10:07):

"(Rishabh Pant's injury) He has got time on his hand to recover, unless it's a crack. So, he will play. India will think about that No. 3 position, whether to bring in Sai Sudharsan. Gautam Gambhir rates him (Dhruv Jurel), he thinks he is a fine batsman (on Jurel playing as a pure batter). But at No. 3, Sai could be the man or they might just say we competed for a lot of time in this Test match, let's give him (Karun Nair) one more Test."

Nair has scored only 131 runs in six innings at an average of under 22 as India trail 1-2 in the series. Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan debuted in Tests in the series opener and batted at No. 3 before being left out of the 11 from the second Test.

"Of course, they can bounce back" - Ravi Shastri on India's chances in England series

Ravi Shastri believes Team India can bounce back to win the England series despite falling 1-2 behind with the 22-run loss at Lord's. Shubman Gill's side were seemingly in control of the Lord's encounter, chasing 193 for victory.

However, the batting capitulated under the fourth-innings pressure and folded for only 170.

"Of course, they can bounce back. They showed it after Headingley in the way they played at Edgbaston. And they've dominated lengthy periods in this Test match as well. So they'll feel it's just seizing the moments at the right time. They've been a little loose and allowed things to drift, just tighten those up a bit. Will Bumrah play at Old Trafford is the million-dollar question with a four-day gap between that and the Oval," said Shastri (via the aforementioned source).

After the back-to-back second and third Tests, the two teams will have an eight-day break before the fourth Test at Manchester, starting July 23.