India’s playing XI for the second Test against England in Birmingham has sparked major criticism from former cricket legends. The team made some surprising changes by including Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, and Akash Deep, while leaving out key players like Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav.
India has been struggling in Test matches recently, winning only one out of their last nine games. The poor form continued with a five-wicket loss to England in the first Test at Leeds.
Former captain Sourav Ganguly was not happy with the spin bowling choices. He said on Sony Sports,
“I’m not sure if India has picked their two best spinners. This could be a good chance for India if they score well in the first innings.”
He also shared how, during his time, spinners like Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh helped him control the match and take wickets later.
Sunil Gavaskar was confused about why Kuldeep Yadav, who is in good form, was dropped. He pointed out that the pitch was good for spin bowling.
“Batting wasn’t India’s main problem. They scored more than 830 runs in the first Test. The team needed better bowlers to take wickets,” Gavaskar said.
Ravi Shastri, former head coach, strongly criticized the decision to rest star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah.
“You don’t rest your best bowler in a crucial match,” Shastri said.
In Bumrah’s absence, India went with Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar as their main spin bowlers.
