India suffered a defeat in the first Test of the five-match series at the Headingley Cricket Stadium in Leeds. They will now look to level the series after winning the 2nd Test of the series at Edgbaston, Birmingham from Wednesday (July 2). If the practice session on Friday, June 27 is anything to go by, then Shardul Thakur might be dropped in the second Test after his dismal all-rounder performance in Leeds. Nitish Reddy is likely to be his replacement. However, former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Subramaniam Badrinath wants someone else to replace Shardul.

In an interaction with Star Sports, Badrinath said that it should be star left-arm leg spinner Kuldeep Yadav who could replace Shardul Thakur. He also suggested that Arshdeep Singh should come in place of Prasidh Krishna.

"I think one change could be replacing Shardul — I’d definitely look to include a bowler. And maybe instead of Prasidh Krishna, I’d look to add some variety. So probably, my changes would be Arshdeep Singh and Kuldeep Yadav coming into the XI. But then again, the final XI will depend on the conditions," he added.

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar also opined in the same interaction that India have o bring in Kuldeep Yadav in the team This is because England have been traditionally weak against wrist spin.

“Kis tarah se hum Kuldeep Yadav ko team la sakte hain [‘How can we bring Kuldeep Yadav into the team?’]. The team will have to give some thought to how we can bring Kuldeep Yadav into the XI, because judging by the approach we saw from the England batters in the first Test, Kuldeep — who bowls wrist spin — could be effective. Historically, England’s batters haven’t played wrist spin particularly well. So that is definitely something worth considering,”