3 tough selection decisions India need to make ahead of the First Test
Battle lines are drawn as India take on the mighty England in Tests at their home turf. Indian team has been in good form in Test matches off-late. Even though they lost the series against South Africa 2-1, India gave the Proteas a run for their money. They played some good competitive cricket against a strong South African outfit.
Then the Indian team cleaned up Afghanistan in their debut match in two days. However, the challenge is much stiffer in England. India will have to play it's best cricket to beat England. And for that to happen, the Indian team will need to figure out their best combination.
There are a lot of options available for the Indian team and the team management has their work cut out. It will be extremely crucial to select a team on recent form and the conditions in which the match is played. There are some tough decisions that need to make going into the first Test at Birmingham. Here are the 3 questions which Team India will have to take a call on.
#3 2 spinners or 1 spinner? Should Kuldeep be included?
India will have to decide whether they are going to play with 2 spinners or one spinner. The English conditions have always suited pace bowling more and India does possess a strong pace attack.
On the other hand, spinners are more effective than seamers against the English batsmen, as seen in the ODI series. Kuldeep Yadav was in top form in the limited-overs leg of the tour. However, the English batsmen seemed to figured him out at the end of the ODI series. So it will be interesting to see whether Kuldeep will be in the playing XI. India also have experienced spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Should India include young Kuldeep at the expense of the senior spinners?
Writer's take
At the end of the ODI series, English batsmen showed that they aren't mugs against spinners after all. So in probability India will go with 3 front-line seamers and a single spinner. Jadeja has looked flat in overseas conditions and might miss out. While Kuldeep might be included in the side in the latter stages of the series, India is likely to start with Ravichandran Ashwin as the sole spinner.