Gautam Gambhir and his staff have made desperate attempts. After losing the Test series at home to New Zealand and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), India have been under the pump. The Leeds loss just added fuel to the fire, to which the management responded with wholesale changes in the ongoing second Test against England at Edgbaston.
Apart from bringing in Nitish Kumar Reddy (for Sai Sudharsan) and Akash Deep for Jasprit Bumrah (rested), India added another spinner to their repertoire. No, it wasn’t Kuldeep Yadav as many expected. Instead, to cater to the lower-order batting woes, India opted to include Washington Sundar, who provides more confidence as a batter as compared to Kuldeep. Sundar, the off-spinner, has had a great start to his Test career, but the selection call baffled many.
Sundar over Kuldeep: Batting depth over wicket-taking potential?
It remains to be seen if it is a wise decision to ignore a wicket-taking option in Kuldeep Yadav, despite giving rest to Bumrah in the same Test. As far as options at hand for Shubman Gill, he now has three frontline spinners and three all-rounders. Among those all-rounders are Ravindra Jadeja and Sundar, whom many hope will do well when it comes to India’s chance to bowl, especially in the fourth innings.
However, if the recent trend at Edgbaston is anything to go by, the two-spinner ploy could backfire. Ever since Brendon McCullum has taken the coaching role for England, the change in their approach has been marvellous. They are fearless and back themselves to chase down anything. There’s a reason that they have hunted down a 350+ run total twice against India since the turn of the decade.
Edgbaston is a graveyard for fourth-innings spin
And India will be under massive pressure to take 20 wickets after failing to defend 371 in Leeds. Now, in Birmingham, they are without Jasprit Bumrah – the world’s number one Test bowler. Instead, India have two spinners, who might not come into play in the fourth innings. It is pertinent to note that since 2020, spinners have taken just two wickets in the fourth innings at Edgbaston. Whereas pacers have struck 10 times. Moreover, in the last four Tests, all chasing teams have won at the venue, a trend which is unusual considering pitches generally deteriorate on Days 4 and 5. However, Edgbaston has been a typical batting-friendly venue, meaning the second Test could be a repeat of what we saw in Leeds.
Pace vs Spin at Edgbaston in the 4th innings
| Bowling Style | Matches | Wickets |
|---|---|---|
| Pace | 4 | 10 |
| Spin | 4 | 2 |
