Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik expressed concern over the decision to drop bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur after just one match in the ongoing Test series against England. India made three changes to the playing XI for the second Test at Edgbaston, following their defeat in the series opener at Leeds.
While Jasprit Bumrah was rested as part of workload management, Shardul Thakur and Sai Sudharsan were left out, with Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar coming in as replacements. Shardul had an underwhelming performance in Leeds, returning figures of 2 for 89 from 16 overs, and managing just five runs across both innings.
His struggles with both bat and ball contributed to India losing key moments in the match. Speaking to Sky Sports, Dinesh Karthik shared his thoughts on India’s decision to make several changes for the second Test.
“Have to admit it shows a bit of muddled thinking. If they wanted to go with Shardul (Thakur), they should have stuck with him for a couple of games. If it was Nitish Kumar Reddy, stick with him. When you chop and change, it makes it uncomfortable because there is not too much of a difference between the Leeds pitch and this one. So, just the result has forced you to go in a different direction.”
He further added:
“When it comes to Shardul vs Nitish or Washington to Kuldeep, if you are going to do this after one Test, it just says you are reacting a certain way to one Test loss. They would want to stay away from that and stay as balanced as they can.”
Sangakkara Attributes India’s Playing XI Changes To Recent Test Defeats
Meanwhile, former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara feels that the alterations to India’s playing XI were a result of their recent run of losses in Test matches.
“It’s not just a reaction to the one Test loss, I think there is a little bit of chat about the last nine Tests, seven losses, one win and one draw. There is a little bit of that baggage as well to try and turn that pattern around, so there was a lot of pressure and they were looking at this particular Test match in isolation and rung in all the changes,” he said.
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