“He is not Ben Stokes; Where is Kuldeep?”: Ashwin tears into Gautam Gambhir’s tactics

Team India might have put up 358 in the first innings, but by the end of Day 2 at Old Trafford, their bowling attack looked flat, fatigued, and increasingly toothless. England, led by a breezy 166-run opening stand between Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley, cruised to 225/2 at Stumps, trailing by just 133 runs with eight wickets in hand.

The flatness wasn’t just in the pitch. It was also in India’s bowling plans, and former off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t hold back, slamming the team management’s decision to overlook wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav in favour of batting depth.

“Where is Kuldeep Yadav?” – Ashwin questions selection logic

India made forced changes to their playing XI due to injuries to Nitish Kumar Reddy, Akash Deep, and Arshdeep Singh. This gave debutant Anshul Kamboj his maiden cap and brought Shardul Thakur back into the side. But the reshuffled bowling unit looked undercooked and lacked penetration once the Dukes ball stopped doing tricks.

Ashwin, speaking on his YouTube channel, pointed fingers at Gautam Gambhir’s tactics as India’s new head coach, making it clear that India’s bowling strategy is suffering due to an obsession with adding “20-30 runs” through lower-order batters.

“See, you may get 20–30 extra runs from the No.8 batter, but if that player at No.8 takes 2–3 wickets, then the complexion of the Test match can change,” Ashwin said, before adding,“The management decided to play Nitish Kumar Reddy at Lord’s and Birmingham… but he is not Ben Stokes yet.”

Ashwin tears into selection calls

The absence of Kuldeep Yadav, despite the pitch easing out and pacers tiring, was the biggest miss according to Ashwin. With Siraj and Bumrah carrying the bulk of the load through the series and Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja both capable with the bat, Ashwin couldn’t comprehend why India continued to chase batting depth at the cost of attacking options.

“Once Nitish Kumar Reddy went out of the picture at No.6, it was a no-brainer to play Kuldeep Yadav… Even though Bumrah’s workload has been managed, it is still not an easy task. Kuldeep Yadav is a serious miss,” he added.

Shardul Thakur, whose recall was based on all-round ability, proved expensive, conceding 35 runs in 5 overs with six boundaries. Ashwin bluntly questioned the point of picking Thakur if his bowling contributions are going to be this minimal. Thakur himself is perhaps waiting for his chances as he has not developed enough trust of Gill.

“If somebody would have told me that Kuldeep Yadav will not be playing any part in the first four Tests, I would have been very very surprised… It is our obsession with batting. That advantage of 20–30 runs is gone.”