Michael Clarke reveals one change India should make in 2nd Test vs England

Former Australian captain and commentator Michael Clarke has revealed that it is an absolute no-brainer to include wicket-taker Kuldeep Yadav in India’s playing XI in the second Test against England, scheduled to start on Wednesday, July 2, at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Notably, Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was expected to play only three out of five Tests on the England tour, is set to miss the second Test in Birmingham as part of the workload management. 

Clarke asserted that though the other three pacers, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, bowled well in a few intervals, they couldn’t consistently bowl good lines and lengths to support Bumrah.

"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 did in this Test match. Bumrah's a star, he's leading that attack. But the other three fast bowlers, 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," he said on the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast on his YouTube channel.

"Kuldeep is ready. Give him a chance. Yes he might go for runs but he can take wickets. He can bowl the opposition out in the second innings. He bowls from the back of the hand. He is confident. He is at the top of his game. I'm really hoping they make that change," he stated.

On the other hand, Clarke also reckoned that the Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja failed to live up to the expectations, especially in the fourth innings. Despite the rough created on the surface, Jadeja couldn’t use it properly as England managed to bag a comfortable five-wicket win in the 371-run chase.

"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 could have been a bit wider into the rough, and even to the right-hander, utilized over the wicket into the rough looking for that LBW in front of the stumps," he observed.

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