New Delhi: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar believes the time is ripe for the visitors to play Kuldeep Yadav at the expense of Shardul Thakur in the second Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Edgbaston, starting July 2, citing that the recent hot weather in England also makes for ideal conditions to play two spinners.
Kuldeep has taken 56 wickets in 13 Tests at an average of 22.16, but wasn’t included in the playing eleven for the first Test in Leeds, as England eventually chased down 371 to beat India by five wickets.
“I think Kuldeep Yadav has to come back. I’m sorry to say, but Shardul Thakur has to go out. 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 needs to take a hard call: even in English conditions, they must go with quality bowlers. If that means playing two spinners, so be it. Pick your best bowlers, irrespective of the conditions. You don’t have the luxury of someone like Mohammed Shami available, or the full-strength pace battery, so I’d go one seamer short and bring Kuldeep Yadav into the XI. He has to play,” said Manjrekar on JioHotstar.
In Leeds, Thakur bowled just 16 overs and took two wickets. Moreover, he failed to make a strong impact with the bat. “Let’s also acknowledge that English summers these days are largely dry — thanks to global warming, perhaps — and that does open the door for spin. In a way, it’s time to reintroduce the idea of India playing spin in England. Ben Stokes has already changed the narrative with common-sense, aggressive cricket.
India needs to embrace the same clarity. There was a time when India would play three spinners no matter what, whether in New Zealand or England. If Kuldeep is in your squad, play him. Don’t go with seamers just because you’re playing in England. I’d drop one seamer and bring in Kuldeep Yadav,” added Manjrekar.
The former India batter was also very critical of Jadeja, as he felt the veteran left-arm spin all-rounder missed an opportunity to exploit the rough in Leeds. In both innings, despite getting turn and bounce at times, Jadeja returned with lacklustre figures of 0-68 and 1-104, respectively.
“It’s not fair to be overly critical of younger players like Prasidh Krishna — there are obvious areas for improvement. But I am going to be critical of Ravindra Jadeja. This was a final-day pitch with rough patches for him to exploit. And while there were a couple of chances, we have to expect more from someone of his experience.
“These weren’t typical English conditions where the pitch offers nothing. I felt he didn’t use the rough nearly enough, especially against Ben Duckett. Against Ben Stokes, yes, he did make an effort. But it was only much later in Duckett’s innings that Jadeja started using the rough properly.
“When you’re dealing with experienced bowlers and seasoned batters, you expect a higher level of tactical awareness. Somewhere, I felt Jadeja was disappointing. The seamers had no help from the surface — but Jadeja at least had something in the pitch working in his favour,” concluded Manjrekar.
