Oval Test: All-rounder or Kuldeep? India's No 8 conundrum...

India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak explained the team's rationale behind playing an all-rounder at No 8 rather than fielding a specialist bowler.

India's premier spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been warming the bench for the last four Tests with an all-rounder preferred over a wicket-taking bowler.

Shardul Thakur was India's number eight in the last game. He bowled 11 overs and produced a timely 41 in the first innings at Old Trafford.

Going by what Kotak said two days before the game, that template is likely to continue in the fifth and final Test at The Oval, starting on Thursday.

"See you have to see the balance of both batting and bowling to win the match. Because, like you're saying, you have to take 20 wickets. Similarly, it's equally important that you score 550-600 runs.

"We won in Edgbaston because we scored those many runs. So, if we look at the bowling more and reduce the batting, it depends on what the wicket looks like. If the captain and coach and the team management feel increasing a bowler is beneficial, they will," said Kotak.

With Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar being the two spin all-rounders, a sixth bowling option like Shardul is likely to  under bowl, said the batting coach.

"When you play with five bowlers, then all the bowlers bowl. Overall, if you play with six bowlers, then some bowlers will under-bowl. So, if that sixth bowler is an all-rounder,

then you know that he will contribute in batting and in bowling as well.

"If he is a pure bowler, and has under-bowled then after the match, when you look back, you will think that rather than an extra bowler a batter would have made a difference.

"And secondly, after the match is over, it is very easy to say whether he would have bowled more or less. Before the match starts, you have to look at the team's balance. So, we will try to keep the best balance," he said.

Kotak is also expecting more runs from his top three, especially Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan.

"See, if you honestly ask me, Karun played well in the first three matches. In the first match, Sai bowled down the leg in the 1st innings, and bowled out in the 2nd innings at 30," he said.

"So, there were partnerships. So, what does any team want? Two 100 stands in an innings, or a partnership of two three fifty stands, so that we can score 400-450 runs. So, even in Karun's case, in the first innings of the last match, in the top 3, there were six partnerships of 50 plus, and one 100 plus partnership.

"And in the later batting, there were six partnerships of 100 plus, and two partnerships of 50 plus. So, as a batting unit, the head coach's view is that we have to increase the 100 stands in the top 5, or in the top 3, which is very obvious. So, hopefully, in this match, from the top 3, we can see two big innings."

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