After the first Test reverse in Headingley, Leeds, the Indian think tank would have mulled over a lot about the ways to take 20 wickets in order to level the series quickly in the second Test in Edgbaston, Birmingham. It’s not going to be easy at all with Jasprit Bumrah not having taken the call to take the field or not. India’s seasoned campaigner Mohammed Siraj is likely to lead the attack and the support staff led by Head Coach Gautam Gambhir would like the sprightly Hyderabadi to up his display with the ball by a few notches and take wickets. Prasidh Krishna conceded over 200 runs at Leeds and that’s hell of a lot. Allrounder Shardul Thakur was of no use and his place is likely to be taken by the left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav. It’s not known if the team management will gamble picking left arm seamer Arshdeep Singh, who has the ability to swing the ball, but he doesn’t have to speed to unnerve the batters. It’s a five Test series, and India has to bounce back before the third Test at Lord’s which inspires cricketers the world over. A bowling combination in Bumrah (5 scalps in the first innings of the first Test), Siraj, Krishna, Thakur and left hand spinner Ravindra Jadeja did not click and took only 15 English wickets and lost the Test in the land of Freddie Trueman and Geoffrey Boycott, but a slight tweak in the bowling set and with a bit of luck, Gill’s team would be hoping to turn the tide.
