No Kuldeep Yadav, Gautam Gambhir's Mega Move In India XI For 2nd Test vs England: Sources. Three Changes Are...

NDTV

4 hours ago

The Indian cricket team management may go for the ultimate gamble in the second India vs England Test starting in Birmingham on Wednesday. India lost the first Test by five wickets, despite being in a good position. The bowlers and the lower order batters came under match scrutiny. The problem has increased manifold for India with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah likely to be rested from the match due to workload management.
Now, sources have told NDTV that there may be as many as four changes from the team that played in the first Test in Headingley. While Indian cricket team assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate hinted about playing two spinners, NDTV has learnt that Kuldeep may not be in the scheme of things for the second Test.
In place of Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep will play. Bengal pacer Akash Deep played in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The second change can be spin allrounder Washington Sundar coming in for Shardul Thakur. The third change that can take place is No. 3 Sai Sudarsan or No. 6 Karun Nair giving way to Nitish Kumar Reddy. Reddy is a batting allrounder and can bowl a few overs of medium pace.
If this combination goes, India will have six bowling options – Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington and Nitish.
Ahead of the second Test against England at Birmingham, Indian skipper Shubman Gill said that while pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is available to play, the team will take a final call later ahead of the match after seeing the wicket regarding the combination.
He also added that the team is trying to manage Bumrah's workload in the coming games.
The second Test will kickstart from Wednesday onwards at Birmingham. India is trailing 0-1 in the series, failing to defend 371 runs at Leeds, despite scoring five centuries while batting. Bumrah, who took a five-wicket haul in the first innings, went wicketless in the second and bowled almost 44 overs. In this series, he will be playing only three Tests.
Speaking ahead of the match in the pre-match presser, Gill said, "Bumrah is definitely available to play. We are trying to find a way to manage his workload. And yes, we are trying to find the right combination where we can take 20 wickets and score runs as well on these kind of wickets. We just thought we are going to have a final look today (on the wicket) once we come to the ground and see what kind of combination that we want to go with tomorrow."
Gill also said that the team was aware of the fact that Bumrah would be playing only three games and had decided on several combinations.
"So, you definitely do miss your best bowler if he is not playing. But I think we had that sorted before the series, who would be playing if he were not playing," he added.