“Shardul Thakur should have taken the new ball” - India’s World Cup-winning star makes stunning claim after ENG vs IND 2025 1st Test

Former World Cup-winning cricketer Madan Lal believes Team India should have used Shardul Thakur with the new ball in the first Test against England in Leeds. The visitors suffered a heartbreaking five-wicket defeat despite holding their own for most of the contest.

Having dominated with the bat in both innings and set England a massive target of 371, the Indian bowlers succumbed to the pressure on the final day. The hosts comfortably hunted down the target with five wickets remaining to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Playing as the fourth seam-bowling option, Thakur was underutilized with the ball, bowling only 16 overs across the two innings. The 33-year-old bowled for the first time in the match in only the 40th over and as the fifth bowler.

Talking about India's first Test defeat in an interview with ANI, Madan Lal said (via the Tribune):

"I think our bowlers should have bowled better. You cannot win a game with one bowler, you need three to four bowlers contributing. In my view, Shardul Thakur should have taken the new ball. He could have added something different up front."

He added:

"We played very good cricket apart from the fielding lapses. That's where we lost the game. You see five hundreds, English players getting two hundreds, and the match going to the last day, that's what matters in Test cricket."

Thakur endured a wicketless first innings with woeful figures of 0/38 in six overs. However, he bounced back with two crucial wickets on the final day to finish with second innings figures of 2/51 in 10 overs.

"It should be constructive and fair" - Madan Lal on Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir's critics

Madal Lal defended head coach Gautam Gambhir despite his poor Test record since taking over from Rahul Dravid last year. After winning their first two Tests under Gambhir against Bangladesh, India have lost seven of their next nine Tests.

It included an embarrassing 0-3 home series whitewash to New Zealand and a 1-3 series loss in Australia.

"You cannot judge someone based on just one Test match; it is wrong. Criticism is a part of the game, but it should be constructive and fair," said Madan Lal on Gambhir (via the aforementioned source).

The Leeds Test was India's first under new skipper Shubman Gill, following the Test retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma last month. They will look to even the series at 1-1 in the second Test at Edgbaston, starting July 2.