IND vs ENG: Shardul Thakur could swing back

Legspinnerturnedtelevision commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan reckons bowling allrounder Shardul Thakur who missed the Lordrsquos Test because of a hamstring injury will make a comeback in place of Ishant Sharma at Leeds on August 25Ishant claimed five wickets at Lordrsquos while Thakur took four in NottinghamlsquoThakur can bat toorsquoldquoIf the first match Shardul played ahead of Ishant and if Shardul is fit he is likely to come back because Headingley will help swing bowlers a lot more Ishant is more of a hitthedeck bowler He bowls back of the length whereas Shardul bowls much fuller very similar to Mohammed Siraj Shardul can bat a bit too so I am guessing Shardul will get the nod ahead of Ishantrdquo Siva said during a virtual media interaction on ThursdayLaxman SivaramakrishnanOn the batting front though openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul gave India a solid start in the last two Tests Siva does not see the pair as a longterm investmentRegular opener Mayank Agarwal missed out on the opportunity when he got injured in the nets ahead of the first Test and had to sit out However Rohit 36 and Rahul 84 shared a 97run opening stand in the drawn first Test at Nottingham Both provided a strong foundation with a 126run opening partnership during the 151run win at Lordrsquos with Rohit scoring 83 and Rahul a magnificent 129ldquoWe will have to see options how we can get along because Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane did their job 45 and 61 respectively in the last game But you want stability you know they are 33 years of age Yoursquod want to groom some youngsters so Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill will come along the way Probably Prithvi might get to open at some stage and Shubman can bat at No3 in place of Pujara So we will probably see a few things happening going forward But at the moment KL and Rohit with their brilliant performance will be part of this seriesrdquo said SivaSiva backs SuryaWhen asked whether Shaw could be an option for the middleorder Siva 55 batted for Suryakumar Yadav who has yet to make his Test debut ldquoI donrsquot think they team management will consider him Shaw for a middleorder batting slot I think Suryakumar is a better middleorder batsman He has done a lot and plays very well at No5 and No6 He can take the attack to the opposition and accelerate runscoring If you are going to play four fast bowlers you need somebody who is aggressive and can get quick runs If at all Prithvi plays he will open the innings If somebody needs to come in the middleorder it is Suryakumarrdquo remarked SivaAlso Read Photo Wriddhiman Saha receives second dose of Covid19 vaccine in London