Don’t want to be hard on any individual, but India have got to play Kuldeep Yadav: Michael Clarke

India did not have a great start to their five-match Test tour of England as they suffered a five-wicket defeat in the first Test at Headingley, Leeds. While the batters did reasonably well, the bowling department was a let-down barring Jasprit Bumrah.

Many experts and fans have urged the Indian team to include Kuldeep Yadav in their lineup for the second Test, which starts from Wednesday, July 2, at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Michael Clarke is the latest to make that suggestion as he feels that Kuldeep’s wicket-taking ability will stand India in good stead.

“Bowling-wise, I do not want to be hard on any individual, but I think they’ve got to play Kuldeep Yadav. I think it is an absolute no-brainer. He’s a wicket-taker and would have offered a lot more than what the attack did in this Test,” the 2015 World Cup-winning captain said while speaking on the Beyond23 Podcast.

Clarke noted that India have a habit of stacking their team with a lot of batting options. However, the former Australian cricketer said that the Shubman Gill-led side should focus on picking up 20 wickets to win Test matches in England.

“India have done this for a while. They care so much about extra batting or stacking the batting deep, and they are willing to risk picking their number one spinner to do that. I think to win in England, you’ve got to look to take 20 wickets,” he added.

Execution probably needs to be better: Clarke

Clarke lauded Bumrah’s efforts in the first Test but said that the other pacers were inconsistent and will have to improve their execution in the games to come.

“Bumrah’s a star, he’s leading that attack. But the other three pacers, yes, at times they bowled well, but they need to find more ways of taking wickets. Their execution probably needs to be better,” Clarke noted.

The cricketer-turned-commentator also expressed his disappointment over Ravindra Jadeja’s insipid performance, especially in the second innings, where the Saurashtra all-rounder couldn’t exploit the rough outside the left-hander’s off-stump.

“Jadeja didn’t have the impact I thought he might. Particularly in the second innings, I expected him to exploit the rough outside the left-hander’s off-stump. I thought he bowled a little too straight,” Clarke said.