{"id":284498,"date":"2025-07-23T06:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T06:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/284498\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T06:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T06:23:13","slug":"ind-vs-eng-navjot-singh-sidhu-predicts-indias-xi-for-crucial-manchester-test-calls-mohammed-siraj-unsung-hero-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/284498\/","title":{"rendered":"IND vs ENG: Navjot Singh Sidhu predicts India\u2019s XI for crucial Manchester Test; calls Mohammed Siraj &#8216;unsung hero&#8217; | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/122850790.jpg\" alt=\"IND vs ENG: Navjot Singh Sidhu predicts India\u2019s XI for crucial Manchester Test; calls Mohammed Siraj 'unsung hero'\" title=\"Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill ahead of the fourth Test. (Getty Images)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill ahead of the fourth Test. (Getty Images) NEW DELHI: As India gear up for a must-win fourth Test against England at Old Trafford, former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu has weighed in with his predicted playing XI, calling for Sai Sudharsan\u2019s return and expressing doubts over Karun Nair\u2019s place in the side.With India trailing 1-2 in the five-match Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, the team\u2019s selection decisions ahead of Wednesday\u2019s Test have become a major talking point \u2014 particularly in light of Nitish Reddy\u2019s injury and doubts over pacers Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh.<\/p>\n<p>Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir&#8217;s late meeting near Manchester pitch | Playing XI discussion<\/p>\n<p>Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@toisports\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" target=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\">SUBSCRIBE NOW!<\/a>On his YouTube channel, Sidhu endorsed a lineup that included Sudharsan, dropped after a modest debut (0 and 30) in the first Test, and left out since.\u201cKarun Nair is a promising cricketer, but his technical weakness has been exposed,\u201d said Sidhu. \u201cWhen you think of winning, I ask \u2014 what is the fault of Sai Sudharsan?\u201dHe hailed Sudharsan\u2019s recent domestic and IPL form, saying, \u201cYou have one of the most promising players in India. He\u2019s technically sound \u2014 low gravity, hand-eye coordination, and head over toe. Why shouldn\u2019t he be in the team?\u201dSidhu\u2019s predicted India XI:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Anshul Kamboj.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>He also showered praise on Mohammed Siraj, calling him the unsung hero of India\u2019s pace unit: \u201cSiraj has bowled over 900 overs since 2020. He\u2019s played 25 out of 27 overseas games. Controlled pace in England is key \u2014 and Siraj brings that in abundance.\u201dMeanwhile, skipper Shubman Gill backed Nair, saying: \u201cHe didn\u2019t bat at his number in the first game. We\u2019ve had conversations with him, and he will turn it around.\u201dWith the series on the line and India\u2019s middle order under the scanner, the final XI remains to be seen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill ahead of the fourth Test. (Getty Images)&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,106593,393,4884,106590,32441,106594,2465,106591,106589,106595,106592,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-284498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cricket-analysis-india-vs-england","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-indias-cricket-team","13":"tag-indian-cricket-team","14":"tag-karun-nairs-place-in-team","15":"tag-manchester","16":"tag-mohammed-siraj-unsung-hero","17":"tag-navjot-singh-sidhu-predicts-india-xi","18":"tag-old-trafford-test-preview","19":"tag-sai-sudharsan-return-to-squad","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114901116804444905","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}