India vs England: Is Kuldeep Yadav the missing key in the visitors' campaign?

The opening Test didn't side with the visitors in Leeds. The young Shubman Gill started his Test captaincy era with a 5-wicket loss against England at Headingley. Despite the batting unit piling up five centuries, a first for India to score as many tons in a Test, the guests fell on the last day. Now, what awaits them in the second India vs England fixture is an even tougher test. Heading to Edgbaston for the next match, India would be reminded of their record at the venue. The visitors have never managed to win a Test match in Birmingham. Whether the trend changes this time around, with a relatively raw team at the fore, remains an interesting sight to witness.

Where did the visitors falter in the opening India vs England Test?

Curating the Playing XI for the first India vs England Test in Leeds, the visitors, under the captaincy of Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir, went for a batting-deep approach. India played three pacers and a pace all-rounder, along with Ravindra Jadeja as the sole spinner. The batting unit, even though not collectively, showed up just right. Yashasvi Jaiswal started the proceedings by becoming the first-ever Indian opener to score a ton at Headingley.

The lead charged up even higher on the batting-friendly surface as Shubman Gill stepped up in his first Test as captain. The 25-year-old joined the league of Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli as only the fifth player to adorn his Test captaincy debut with a century. Moreover, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant also scored a century, with India accumulating three tons in the opening innings. In the next innings, Rishabh Pant hit a ton again, becoming only the second wicketkeeper after Andy Flower to score twin centuries in a Test. Additionally, KL Rahul, the senior-most batter in the Indian side currently, scored 137 to keep India in the contest.

However, the tail of the Indian batting remained absent. The likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Karun Nair, and Shardul Thakur failed to bolster the momentum set by the top order, falling short in pushing the lead to an impenetrable mark on the batting-friendly surface. India's woes deepened in the bowling innings, as none of the bowlers, barring Jasprit Bumrah, made any impact. While one end was left loose against England, Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, and Shardul Thakur leaked runs. The disappointing fielding proved to be the nail in the coffin.

With the fielders dropping as many as eight catches, India lost the opening fixture by 5 wickets. The analysis of the opening India vs England Test at Headingley brought significant scrutiny for the bowlers and the fielders. Shardul Thakur, who played ahead of Nitish Kumar Reddy in the Test, failed to contribute from any end. While the pacer scalped two wickets off consecutive deliveries in the final over, it was too late by then. With Shardul proving no aid to the batting lineup or the pace attack, calls have been made to drop the all-rounder from the Playing XI for the next Test.

Michael Clarke wants Kuldeep Yadav in the combination for the India vs England Tests

Surprisingly, the fraternity and the experts are not naming Nitish Kumar Reddy to replace Shardul Thakur in the combination. After Sanjay Manjrekar, former Australian star Michael Clarke has advised India to play Kuldeep Yadav in Birmingham. The former World Cup-winning skipper explained that Kuldeep doesn't rely on the pitch’s assistance to scalp needed wickets.

According to Clarke, it’s a no-brainer to give the spinner a chance at Edgbaston. The former Kangaroo captain also bashed the management for being hell-bent on playing a batter-heavy lineup. Clarke is of the opinion that scalping 20 wickets is the key to victory in England, and Kuldeep could serve the cause well starting from the next India vs England Test.

"Bowling-wise, I do not want to be hard on any individual, but I think they’ve got to play Kuldeep Yadav. I think it is an absolute no-brainer. I think he’s a wicket-taker and would have offered a lot more than what he saw the attack do in this Test," Clarke said. "India have done this for a while. They care so much about extra batting or stacking the batting deep, and they are willing to risk picking the number one spinner to do that. I think to win in England, you’ve got to look to pick 20 wickets," he added.

Moreover, Clarke reiterated the aspect that almost all of the fraternity has advised the touring side to focus on in England. The Kangaroo has called for the rest of the bowlers to support Jasprit Bumrah from the other end. Clarke explained that the likes of Siraj and Prasidh Krishna need to find more ways to take wickets and work on their execution. Furthermore, Clarke also highlighted that Ravindra Jadeja didn’t perform as per expectations in Leeds.

“Bumrah’s a star, he’s leading that attack. But the other three pacers, yes, at stages bowled well, but they need to find more ways of taking wickets, more options and their execution has probably got to be better," Clarke said. “Jadeja didn’t have the impact that I thought he might have. Particularly in the second innings, I thought there was a lot of rough to the left-hander. I thought he bowled a little bit straight," he added.