'This IPL Showed That...': England Great With 167 Test Wickets Wants India To Play This IPL Star In Second Test Against England

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India were Bazballed in the first test of the five match Test series at Headingley, Leeds getting defeated by 5 wickets. India gave Ben Stokes led team to chase a trick total of 371 in the fourth innings after suffering another collapse in the second innings getting bundled out for 364 runs. The Three lions chased the target in a formidable style going with the bazball approach led by Ben Duckett in the second innings. Shardul Thakur provided India a ray of hope with his two wickets of two consecutive balls on last day dismissing Duckett and Harry Brook but as a whole he had a very ordinary game as an all-rounder and drew a lot of criticism.

Now the Indian team will surely rethink their strategies and will make some apt changes to win the second game of the series. Former England Spinner Monty Panesar has advocated for Kuldeep Yadav in the side, according to him Yadav can be an X factor in the team as he is a natural wicket taker and he would do more damage than Shardul Thakur.  

 "At Edgbaston, India could probably play (Ravindra) Jadeja and could actually go for the X-factor spinner in Kuldeep Yadav...we know that the Edgbaston wicket does turn a little bit. So you have that bit of an X-factor, which I think would be a better option. There's something about him. He doesn't need turning tracks. This IPL showed that even without an exaggerated turn, he can bowl tough lines that make life difficult for batters," Panesar told PTI Videos.

Panesar On Shardul

He also called out the captain and team management in under-utilizing Shardul in both the innings and states that there is no reason to play Thakur if he will not be Utilized up to his potential. Monty even made a big statement saying Kuldeep is more effective than Ravindra Jadeja and he can be India's X Factor.

 "If Shardul Thakur is only going to bowl six to eight overs and not give you 15 overs in the day, there's no point in playing him. I think they need to play Kuldeep because he has more of an X factor. There's something about him. Jadeja bowls too quickly. So I think, yeah, they need to bring in Kuldeep Yadav instead of Jadeja. He becomes the main attacking option," he added.

Shardul bowled just 16 overs in the game and ended up taking 2 wickets. He had a dismal batting run having scored 5 runs in the game and being one of the main reasons for India's collapse in both the innings. The second test of the five match Test series will be played from July 2nd in Edgbaston, Birmingham.