India's England-Based League Cricketers Could Act As Reserves

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Even though India are playing just one format during their three-and-a-half month long stay in England and travelling with 24 players unlike in Australia, where they played three formats in just over two months of stay and travelled with 32 players, they can still face problems with shortage of players.

With no warm-up matches in England against county teams, India will prepare for the five-Test series with a couple of intra-squad matches. They have a one-and-a-half-month break between the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand and the start of the five-Test series against England during which they will prepare with intra-squad warm-up games.

The 24-member squad will just be enough to make two sides for these matches.

"The reason for carrying extra members in the squad is to ensure that India have back-up in case someone gets injured or gets infected with Covid-19, since it will be difficult to call up a player from India. A player called up will have to go through an entire process of quarantine," said an official in the know of things.

While the lead-up to the WTC final against New Zealand may progress smoothly, the almost three-month period after the final will be crucial. If someone were to get injured or sick during the first phase, then it will make the entire plan go haywire.

There are a few Indian players who are already in United Kingdom playing league cricket who could be called up. Vidarbha captain and former India opener Faiz Fazal and Mumbai batsman Siddhesh Lad are among the first-class players who are or will be playing league cricket there.

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