New Delhi, June 25: India head coach Gautam Gambhir defended captain Shubman Gill’s decision to under bowl Shardul Thakur in the series opener against England but it would be tough to justify his selection in the second Test beginning on July 2.
In his first Test since December 2023, Shardul was under-utilised in the pace department and was rather underwhelming with the bat, totalling five off 20 balls across two innings.
Questions were raised about his presence in the playing eleven ahead of a specialist bowler when he rolled his arm over for six overs in the first innings before bowling 10 in the second.
Like he often does, Shardul did pick a couple of wickets out of nowhere to raise hopes of an Indian comeback on day five but the bite in his bowling was missing. He alongside the likes of Prasidh Krishna offered too many loose balls, lacking consistency to test the opposition batters.
Following England’s record chase of 371 at Headingley, Gambhir was asked about Shardul’s under-utilisation and he understandably came in support of the captain.
“Sometimes captain goes with his instincts and Ravindra Jadeja gave us control in the first innings, that was important and we could rotate our three pacers at the other end.
“We know what is Shardul’s quality and that is why he is playing for India and is in the dressing room. Just because he is the fourth seamer does not necessarily mean that he has to be brought ahead of a spinner. A captain went by his instinct and depending on surface, we were playing,” said Gambhir.
With India losing the game having controlled for a major part of five days, there is no need to ring the alarm bells but a few changes are certain in the playing eleven for the Edgbaston Test.
Calls for Kuldeep’s inclusion
Experts cried out for Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion in the series opener and now he is most likely to replace Shardul with the surface expected to aid the spinners in Birmingham..
“Kuldeep needs to be there. There is no point playing with four pacers. Either of Shardul or Prasidh can make way for him,” former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar said.
There is a tendency to play with four pace options in England but with dry conditions expected for the majority of the English summer, there is a case of playing Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja in the same eleven.
Having said that, Jadeja too will under the scanner having not gotten a lot out of the rough on day five at Headingley.
“Kuldeep Yadav has to come back. I’m sorry to say, but Shardul Thakur has to go out,” former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar said.
“That is one change India will have to make. As for Nitish Kumar Reddy – I backed him for the first Test purely based on what he did in Australia.
“It’s an unpopular choice, because when he comes in, the balance does get affected a bit. He won’t quite bowl like a fourth seamer, so India need to take a hard call: even in English conditions, they must go with quality bowlers. If that means playing two spinners, so be it,” Manjrekar said.
Former England spinner Monty Panesar believes it’s time for India to unleash Kuldeep at the expense of seam-bowling all-rounder Thakur in the second Test in Birmingham where spin is likely to play a bigger role.
“At Edgbaston, India could probably play (Ravindra) Jadeja and could actually go for the X-factor spinner in Kuldeep Yadav…we know that the Edgbaston wicket does turn a little bit. So you have that bit of an X-factor, which I think would be a better option. There’s something about him,” Panesar said.
Panesar, who played a pivotal role in England’s last Test series win in India (2012), feels the numbers are strongly in Kuldeep’s favour. The left-arm wrist-spinner has taken 56 wickets in just 13 Tests at an average of 22.16.
Pressed on whether India should pick Kuldeep instead of Jadeja, Panesar didn’t hesitate.
“I think they need to play Kuldeep because he has more of an X factor. There’s something about him. Jadeja bowls too quickly. So I think, yeah, they need to bring in Kuldeep Yadav instead of Jadeja. He becomes the main attacking option,” he said.
But Panesar acknowledged India may hesitate to play only one spinner, especially given Jadeja’s ability to contain runs.
Other changes in the bowling line-up are unlikely with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah expected to play with a long enough gap between the first and the second Test.
Uncapped Arshdeep Singh is likely to warm the bench again with the management expected to persist with Prasidh, who bowled much better and fuller in the second essay and Mohammed Siraj, who is not able to extract a lot of his stock wobbled seam delivery of late. (PTI)