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3. Play two spinners
The idea of playing with two spinners in England is probably the most left-field of ideas. However, England has been going through an extreme heat wave and one can expect the pitches to be a little dry.
Kuldeep Yadav bamboozled the English batsmen in the ODI and T20 series and should find a place in the eleven. The most impressive aspect of Kuldeep’s bowling was that he was able to prize out wickets when the English batsmen were content to defend. With the Test matches set to follow a similar pattern, Kuldeep would fancy his chances against England.
A crucial component of India’s surge to the top of the rankings have been R Ashwin’s performances. In the subcontinent, he was unplayable and picked up bags of wickets. However, on his African adventure, he wasn’t as productive. Though he picked up 7 wickets in 2 matches, he couldn’t get the breakthroughs when needed. But with the English batsmen looking circumspect against spin, India should explore the option of playing Ashwin. With Bhuvaneshwar Kumar absent, he would also add a bit of batting depth to India’s long tail.
If Ashwin is to find a place in the eleven, one of Pandya or Mohammed Shami has to miss out. Since his injury, Shami hasn’t been the same bowler. Even in the IPL, he looked listless and he didn’t show any promising signs in the warm-up game. He was very erratic and conceded runs on both sides of the wicket. Pandya, meanwhile has been impressive on this tour and came up with crucial breakthroughs throughout the ODI and T20 series. In addition to this, Pandya is a game-changer at No.7 in the batting order.
For India to succeed, they need to play the 5 bowlers who look most likely to take 20 wickets. At the moment, a combination of two pacers and two spinners, with Pandya as the fifth bowler seems the best option.
