"It's an absolute no-brainer" - Michael Clarke suggests key change for 2nd ENG vs IND 2025 Test
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke suggested a key change in the Indian team for the second Test against England. India are in England for a five-match series and suffered a five-wicket defeat in the opening Test in Leeds.
The second Test is set to begin on Wednesday, July 2, at Edgaston, Birmingham. Ahead of the same, Michael Clarke has suggested for India to bring wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav into the playing XI. He stated that playing Kuldeep is an absolute no-brainer as he is a wicket-taking bowler.
"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. (10:15)
Talking about Ravindra Jadeja, who was the lone spinner for India in the first Test, Michael Clarke added that he did not have the kind of impact expected from him.
"Jadeja didn't have the impact that I thought he might have. Particularly in the second innings I thought there was 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, utilize over the wicket into the rough looking for that LBW in front of the stumps," he explained. (10:53)
Clarke expressed his surprise on Kuldeep not being picked for the first Test. He stressed upon Kuldeep being a huge wicket-taking option for India and that they must pick him in the second Test.
"Kuldeep is ready" - Michael Clarke backs wrist-spinner ahead of second Test
Talking about the combination, Michael Clarke suggested that India can either play two spinners in Jadeja and Kuldeep or just play one spinner, who should be Kuldeep in place of Jadeja.
The former Australian captain highlighted India's approach of looking to go with a deep batting line-up. However, he stated that they must look to pick up 20 wickets to win Tests in England.
"India has done this for a while. They care so much about extra batting or stacking the batting deep and they are willing to risk picking the number one spinner to do that. I think to win in England you've got to look to pick 20 wickets. The first thing you think about is how do we take 20 wickets to win the game. Once you've got the bowling attack that can do that, then I think you can pick the other guys around that. I think they might have missed a trick in that first Test match," he pointed out. (11:25)
Further, Michael Clarke backed Kuldeep, saying that even he if would go for some runs he can scalp wickets and is confident at the moment.
"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 said (12:10).
Kuldeep has played 13 Tests so far and has bagged 56 wickets at an average of 22.16 with four five-wicket hauls.