India’s team selection for the second Test against England at Edgbaston sparked a massive debate. The visitors made three changes to the playing XI for the second Test, which kicked off on Wednesday (July 2).

Star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been rested as part of workload management, and Sai Sudharsan and Shardul Thakur have been replaced by Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy, respectively.

As a result, three all-rounders – Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy – are featuring in the lineup along with three specialist bowlers – Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.

Speaking on Sky Sports, former England skipper Nasser Hussain criticized India’s team combination for the Birmingham Test, saying that the visitors panicked after the Headingley loss and ended by weakening their bowling attack by prioritizing batting depth.

“Well, it’s a changing era, isn’t it? Obviously, you had Ravi Ashwin retiring, then you have Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Mohammad Shami not being available and not quite fit enough to be on this trip. So, if Ravi Ashwin was here, he would have played as the second spinner, if not the first spinner. Mohammad Shami—they missed that third seamer,” Hussain said.

“There was a drop-off the other day at Headingley when they went from Siraj and Bumrah. The third seamer let them down. Shami never lets them down.

“And that bowling attack that Kohli had—and Rohit Sharma to a degree—the seamers were wonderful and backed up by excellent spinners as well.”

Notably, India failed to defend a 371-run target in the series opener at Headingley. Consequently, the bowling unit faced backlash from the experts and commentators.

The Indian team management has now come under the scanner for resting Bumrah in this Test after going 1-0 down in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. There were also murmurs of displeasure in most corners due to the non-inclusion of wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav as well.

According to Hussain, India hit the panic button by making three changes to their playing XI. “So, I didn’t think there was a need to make as much panic as they have done, because they played a lot of good cricket at Headingley. They scored five centuries. At times, you know, Bumrah was unplayable,” he said.

“It was the catching and the collapses. Those were the two areas of concern. And the collapses they’ve tried to put right by having batting depth without actually improving their bowling.

“Bumrah is now added to the long list I’ve just given you of people not playing. And this is way off the side they had a year or two ago.”

India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna