Our Bureau
Birmingham
When Indian captain Shubman Gill revealed the changed lineup for the second test match on the toss, many were left questioning the changes in the team. Former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly also had his doubts on if the team has played their two best spinners in the team with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar and was surprised that they didn’t play Kuldeep Yadav in these conditions.
Sourav Ganguly during the Tea break after the second session talked about how he thought the Chinaman should’ve played the match considering the pitch and the bowling conditions. The pitch at Edgbaston provides more turn in comparison to other English grounds. Many believe India should’ve gone with their two-best spinners and played Kuldeep to exploit the conditions more.
“I am not sure whether India are playing their two best spinners. England have fielded first, I am surprised with that. I think this is India’s best possible chance at the moment. Put runs on the board and hopefully it works out. 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,” Sourav said.
There were also questions regarding the Indian team choosing to strengthen their batting lineup by adding two allrounders in Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy. Sourav believed that India’s bowling was their weak point in the first test and now with Jasprit Bumrah gone they should’ve looked to power their bowling rather than their batting.
“If your top-order batters are not giving you the runs you expect, then Washington at seven or Nitish Reddy at eight 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.”
