India are trailing 0-1 in the Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy
India under new red-ball captain Shubman Gill churned out a team performance which was a mixed bag that led to a five-wicket loss in the first Test at Headingley against England.
The visiting bowlers showed spark at multiple instances but it was only reduced to a few instances. Even though pacer Prasidh Krishna bowled some great deliveries, he gave away way too many loose balls in both innings and conceded at more than six runs per over, which is expensive in Tests.
The experienced Mohammed Siraj too gave away width for England batters to pick their shots and conceded 173 runs from his 41 overs in the match and claimed only two wickets in total.
Shardul Thakur, who came into the playing XI as the fourth pace-bowling option and as an experienced campaigner on English soil, bowled just 16 overs across both innings and got two wickets.
Despite the dry pitch conditions throughout the course of five days, Ravindra Jadeja couldn’t put his stamp on the game and ended up with just one wicket after bowling 47 overs and conceding 172 runs.
The selection process and ineffective bowling strategy from the visitors helped England a great deal as they fell short of the first innings total of 471 by just five runs and then chased down a target of 371 with ease, thanks to a dominant opening stand of 188 between Zak Crawley (65) and Ben Duckett (149).
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While majority of the criticism has been directed at India’s abysmal fielding in the second innings as well as Siraj and Shardul’s selection, former player-turned-pundits are on the same page when it comes to Kuldeep Yadav’s possible selection for the second Test.
With the English summer weather likely to keep the Edgbaston pitch dry for majority of the second match, the likes of Ravichandran Ashiwn, Deep Dasgupta, Sanjay Manjrekar and Dilip Vengsarkar have all suggest the left-arm wrist spinner to be the second spinner with Jadeja for the next match.
“Kuldeep needs to be there. There is no point playing with four pacers. Either of Shardul or Prasidh can make way for him,” former captain Vengsarkar told PTI.
“Kuldeep Yadav has to come back. I’m sorry to say, but Shardul Thakur has to go out,” said Manjrekar on the analysis program on JioStar.
Speaking on the criticism surrounding India’s tailenders failing to score runs, Dasgupta suggested Kuldeep to play the Edgbaston Test.
“I would love to see Kuldeep there. The advantage of having a top five among runs is you’re not too worried about contributions from your No. 8 with the bat,” the former India opener said on ESPNCricinfo.
Meanwhile, Ashwin felt that Kuldeep as a second spin option is the most obvious choice if the pitch is dry.
“I wouldn’t suggest massive changes are needed for the second Test, but if they are considering a second spinner if the wicket stays dry just like this, then I would think to play Kuldeep,” Ashwin said on his YouTube show.
The second Test will be played from July 2 to 6 in Birmingham.
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