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Ever heard the phrase- desperate times, desperate measures? This is the time now for the visitors to England: Team India. In what is a long series out there but not one that's begun on a really healthy or positive note for India, some changes are required. For if that won't be the case now, then one might see India trailing and that would never be right.
So which changes does one see in the next Test match at Edgbaston?
Here are three possible changes India might make for the second ENG vs IND Test match at Edgbaston, Birmingham
1. Kuldeep Yadav for Ravindra Jadeja
The logic here could be that India need to tighten the screws around what seems to be a freely operating English batting order. Their white-ball captain on odi cricket scored almost a hundred: Harry Brook making 99. Ben Duckett wasn't really curtailed where it came to big run scoring and he fell a run shy of 150, which is a huge score in any format of the game particularly Test match cricket.
Someone still young and spirited and one who can bring some great turn is Kuldeep Yadav. Jadeja wasn't really at his full aplomb and didn't quite play as per full potential at Headingley. As a frontline spin specialist, given there was no Kuldeep, he could pick 1 wicket in the recently-concluded Test match.
And that's that. There wasn't more he could do. As a specialist all rounder, but someone who's been a known wicket-taker you can't take just 1 wicket.
Yadav is a masterful spinner, someone India trusts to take wickets on any kind of surface. Morevoer, he backs himself to take wickets each time he's given the ball by the captain. Gill should trust the man who has collected 56 wickets already from 13 games and could actually do well at Edgbaston.
2. Nitish Kumar Reddy for Shardul Thakur
Even the lord's may be teary eyed seeing India's defeat in the first test at Headingley. So 'Lord' Shardul Thakur who couldn't prove to be an ace with the ball and definitely not with the bat, making a single-digit score at Leeds could make way for someone seemingly more hungry for runs, which is Nitish Kumar Reddy.
With 2 more runs to his test tally, Reddy would have made 300 runs and that will matter a lot as more contests come along on this English tour.
His mega century at the famed MCG reignited India's presence at the BGT 2024 edition and moreover, he seems to be a batter who can steady the ship with his calm approach with the bat.
Not that Shardul Thaukur doesn't have the talent, he is loved by many and has commanded a fan base for always trying for India. But it's time for a change and the young 22-year-old batter with quite a decent domestic record to his name, should do the trick at Edgbaston.
