Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin suggested that Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir feature with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav the second Test against England to add more experience to their bowling attack and reduce the burden on legendary speedster Jasprit Bumrah.
England are currently leading 1-0 in the five-Test match series of the ongoing Tendulkar-Anderson Trophy 2025. During the first Test match, which India lost by five wickets, the visitors were relying on Bumrah for wickets and cutting the flow of runs.
“They are too much dependent on Bumrah. It’s not easy because you need more experienced bowlers, and they should play Kuldeep Yadav,” Azharuddin told PTI Videos.
India will face England in the second Test at Birmingham from July 2, and the pitch, which is expected to be dry, will likely offer some assistance to Kuldeep.
Azharuddin called for keeping the team combination right to take the team out of the Leeds debacle.
“We lost because of batting collapse, but anyways now they have to pick the right players and bowling has to be perfect,” he noted.
Azharuddin also backed young India captain Shubman Gill after India's loss, saying he should be given enough time to prove his mettle.
“This is his just first match as a captain, you just can’t talk about captaincy. It’s too early to talk about captaincy,” he remarked.
“We should give him a fair chance and he has just taken over. So, you should give him a lot of time and support. We cannot just complain and criticise players like that,” said Azharuddin, who led India to 14 wins in 47 Tests as captain.
England, who are currently leading in the series, have added pace sensation Jofra Archer in their squad for the second Test and there are reports that Jasprit Bumrah not feature in the Edgbaston Test.
England second Test squad: Ben Stokes, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer.