I would certainly prefer him to Pujara or Rahane’: Engineer wants India’s ‘trump card’ to play 3rd Test at Headingley

India will head into the third Test match against England at Headingly with a 1-0 lead, and while in such a scenario, most teams are unwilling to tamper with a winning combination, former wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer reckons India could do with making one change in their line-up for the Test match at Leeds starting August 25.

A lot has been spoken about Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, and while both batsmen played useful knocks in India’s second innings at Lord’s, putting together a 100-run partnership, Engineer feels leaving either of the two for Suryakumar Yadav could work well for Virat Kohli.

Suryakumar and Prithvi Shaw were drafted into the Indian team after Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan sustained injuries and were ruled out of the series, and the former wicketkeeper, while using the terms ‘class’ and ‘match-winner’ for Yadav, is confident of the batman proving to be a valuable addition in the Playing XI.

“Firstly, I am a huge fan of Suryakumar Yadav. I think he is a class player. I would certainly prefer him to Pujara or Rahane. They are class players, very good players, but Suryakumar Yadav is a match-winner. With Shreyas Iyer out of the team with injury, I think Suryakumar should certainly be in the team. He is an aggressive player; he will get you a quick hundred, a quick 70-80. He is a fabulous batsman, fabulous fielder and a wonderful human being as well,” Engineer told Sports Tak in an interview.

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Suryakumar has had a brilliant start to his international career, scoring 124 runs in three ODIs with one fifty and 139 runs in four T20Is, with two half-centuries. He and Shaw last featured for India during the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka, after which they flew to England and reunited with the team on the final day of the Lord’s Test. Engineer predicts the Headingley surface to be ideal for batsmen, in which case, it could be a great opportunity for Suryakumar to make his Test debut for India.

“People are usually reluctant to change a winning combination but like they say ‘horses for courses’. It depends on the wicket in Headingley. I don’t see it being too different. The Headingley pitch will be a good Test wicket. It’s considered to be one of the finest batting pitches in the world. So, I would like to see the inclusion of Suryakumar Yadav. He is the trump card in the team,” Engineer added.