India’s bowling attack, barring Jasprit Bumrah, looked pedestrian in the series opener.
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has advocated for Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion in India’s playing XI for the second Test against England, slated to be held at Edgbaston from July 2.
Clarke’s comment came after India suffered a five-wicket defeat in the series opener at Headingley. The visitors failed to defend a 371-run target, conceding a 1-0 lead in the five-Test rubber.
India’s bowling attack, barring Jasprit Bumrah, looked pedestrian. The likes of Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur didn't provide enough support to the number one-ranked Test bowler. Ravindra Jadeja also failed to make a mark as a lone spinner.
“Bowling-wise, I do not want to be hard on any individual, but I think they’ve got to play Kuldeep Yadav. I think it is an absolute no-brainer. I think he’s a wicket-taker and would have offered a lot more than what he saw the attack do in this Test," Clarke said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“Bumrah’s a star, he’s leading that attack. But the other three pacers, yes, at stages bowled well, but they need to find more ways of taking wickets, more options and their execution has probably got to be better," he added.
“Jadeja didn’t have the impact that I thought he might have. Particularly in the second innings, I thought there was a lot of rough to the left-hander. I thought he bowled a little bit straight," he continued.
Clarke expressed his surprise at Kuldeep not being picked for the first Test while highlighting India’s approach of looking to go with a deep batting lineup.
“India has done this for a while. They care so much about extra batting or stacking the batting deep, and they are willing to risk picking the number one spinner to do that. I think to win in England, you’ve got to look to pick 20 wickets," Clarke stated.
India’s lower order will also have to lift their game. Despite the batters scoring five tons, the tourists were not able to cross the 500-run mark even once. While Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant slammed centuries in the first innings, the wicketkeeper-batter hit another hundred in the second essay along with KL Rahul.
India were bundled out for 471 in the first innings despite being 430/4 at one stage. Similarly, in the second dig, they lost their last six wickets for just 77 runs to be bowled out for 364.
The second Test match is slated to be held at Edgbaston from July 2.