After being ahead of England in most of the sessions in the first Test match, India failed to capitalise on the advantage on the final day and close out a win, with the hosts securing a five-wicket victory on the back of Ben Duckett’s 149.
Shubman Gill, India’s young Test captain, believes an extra spinner in Leeds could have helped his side, and isn’t ruling out going with that option ahead for the second Test in Birmingham, starting Wednesday, 2 July.
“In England, generally teams don’t play with two spinners, but the weather isn’t typical and there is very less rain, a lot of heat,” he said in the pre-match press conference. “So playing an extra spinner won’t be a bad option.
“Even in the previous game, I felt having another spinner could’ve made the difference since Jaddu bhai (Ravindra Jadeja) was successful in asking questions to the batters, and containing runs as well.
“On batting-friendly conditions wherein the ball isn’t swinging much after 30-40 overs, a spinner can stop the runflow if not pick wickets till the second new ball is taken, which could help the pacers as well.
“These are difficult calls to take because, if we are going in with extra spinner, we’d need to think about how to manage the second spinner on day one if we are bowling on the first day.”