India made three changes to their playing XI for the second Test in Birmingham.
When India decided not to add Kuldeep Yadav to bolster their bowling assault for the second Test match against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, on Wednesday, July 2, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was perplexed.
Even after deciding to rest their top bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, the visitors chose not to strengthen their bowling unit with more possibilities for taking wickets, leaving the batting great in awe.
India skipper Shubman Gill said that they were tempted to play Kuldeep after the Headingley Test, but in the end, batting depth is what they went with.
“We were very tempted to play him, but, you know, looking at the last match, we wanted to add a bit of depth in the batting, and that's what we have done,” Shubman Gill said at the toss.
On the other hand, Gavaskar believed the Edgbaston pitch could have been ideal for Kuldeep to ‘weave his magic, given the potential for turn later in the match.
"I'm a little baffled that Kuldeep wasn’t picked, because on a pitch like this, where everybody says there’s a little more turn," Gavaskar said on Sony Sports Network.
Given that Bumrah is their most effective attacking bowler, Gavaskar also questioned the choice to rest him. India made three changes in their playing XI, bringing in Akash Deep, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Washington Sundar, while Jasprit Bumrah, Sai Sudharsan, and Shardul Thakur missed out.
Gavaskar also took issue with the choice to add additional all-rounders to the batting lineup to strengthen it, particularly after India had scored more than 800 runs in two innings during the first Test match at Leeds.
“If your top-order batters are not giving you the runs you expect, then Washington at 7 or Nitish Reddy at 8 won’t necessarily fix that, because those weren’t the batters who failed you in the first Test. You scored 830 runs. You didn’t score 380 in two innings — it was 830-plus. That’s a lot of runs. So, where you needed strengthening was in the wicket-taking department, not so much in the batting,” Gavaskar concluded.
England won the toss and chose to bowl first at Edgbaston.