Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh feels there is a possibility of India playing four spinners in the second Test match against England. India played with three spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja in the opening Test and two fast bowlers – Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
On the other hand, England played with a solitary fast bowler in Mark Wood and three spinners.
After Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out of the second Test match due to a hamstring injury, the selectors have added Saurabh Kumar and Washington Sundar to the squad. Furthermore, India also has the services of Kuldeep Yadav in the squad.
Kuldeep has scalped 34 wickets in eight Test matches at an average of 21.56 and has grabbed his chance with both hands.
Harbhajan Singh said on his YouTube Channel, “From the squad India have picked, I am expecting it to be a turning wicket. If it is going to turn even more than what we saw in the first match, There is a possibility of India playing four spinners, with Jasprit Bumrah being the only fast bowler.”
The Turbanator is hopeful that the curator will prepare a good batting pitch as the Indian batting unit is relatively inexperienced.
“I sincerely hope that the pitch will be better than what we saw in Hyderabad. India have a young batting lineup, and we should give them a chance to get some runs under their belt. It will benefit India if a good pitch is prepared.”
On the other hand, Shubman Gill returned with scores of 23 and 0 in the opening Test whereas Shreyas Iyer registered scores of 35 and 13. The former off-spinner added the onus will be on the duo to score big.
“Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer have performed underwhelmingly in the last few innings. With KL Rahul ruled out, the onus is on them to score big runs. Rohit Sharma will also have to give a good start at the top for India to score around 300 runs in the first innings.”
Harbhajan Singh’s playing XI for IND vs ENG 2nd Test:
Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Sarfaraz Khan, Washington Sundar, KS Bharat, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav/ Mohammed Siraj
