The Leeds wicket for the first India vs England Test was full of runs and considering the hot weather, expectations are that the pitch at Birmingham for the 2nd Test will again be good for batting, bringing the spinners into play. India missed the service of a second spinner in the series-opener and India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said the team is likely to change its strategy for the game beginning on Wednesday. And will India compromise on their batting depth by playing Kuldeep ahead of Washington? Doeschate did not reveal much on that but came -close to confirming that two spinners will be part of the playing eleven.

“There is a very strong chance of playing two spinners. It’s just which two we play. And that goes back to the previous question about juggling the batting depth. All three spinners are bowling very nicely,” he said.

“Washi’s batting very nicely. So it’s just which combination do we go with? All-rounder spinner or the out-and-out spinner? And you have to play the bowling all-rounder again. So there’s so many different variables.

“The wicket’s got 11 mm grass on at the moment. 11 or 12 mm. But it’s quite grassy and patchy. It’s quite dry underneath. But there’s also rain forecast for Wednesday. So again, trying to weigh up the two options of how we want to go attacking-wise. But I’m pretty sure two spinners will play in this Test.” 

Shardul or Nitish?

India chose bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur ahead of batting all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy for the fourth pacer’s slot at Leeds. He did not bowl enough and had an ordinary time with the bat.

Doeschate indicated that Nitish Reddy might play. “He’s very close to getting a game. Obviously, he was fantastic in Australia. Coming into the team and playing the way he did.

“We just felt on balance for the last game, we wanted to go with the bowling all-rounder. Which we thought Shardul was slightly ahead on the bowling front. We’re looking at ways of rejigging the puzzle, so we can get a batting all-rounder in.

“Nitish is our premium batting all-rounder at the moment. So I would say it’s a very good chance to play this test,” the former Netherlands international said.