CLEAN SWEEP YET QUESTIONS REMAIN

Even as India beat England 3-0, the chopping & changing make one wonder about their backroom planning

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN @Ahmedabad

THE team's original No. 4 making runs as an opener (Shubman Gill). The team's reserve No. 4 becoming the enforcer in the middle-overs (Shreyas Iyer). The team's first XIth hour replacement potentially taking the new ball (Harshit Rana). A player in the original 15 likely to start on the bench (Arshdeep Singh) The team's second XIth hour replacement potentially figuring in the first choice XI (Varun Chakravarthy). The team's original opener watching the Champions Trophy on TV (Yashasvi Jaiswal). The team's first-choice non-travelling pacer deemed not worthy of taking the new ball (Mohammed Siraj). A pacer fresh from a long-term injury entrusted with the task of picking new-ball wickets (Mohammed Shami). Five spinners... FIVE. Zero left-handers in the top four, the only top-order at the Champions Trophy with such a skewed squad construction.