3 Changes India needs to make in its Playing XIs for the 2nd Test

#3 Kuldeep Yadav instead of Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav had a terrific IPL this year and has always been one of India's leading pace bowlers, comfortable with the new ball as well as the old ball, given his ability to reverse swing the ball. He has played all over the world and definitely is India's fourth best fast bowling option in Tests after Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Mohammad Shami, but the inconsistency in his bowling was evident in the 1st Test, as he lacked control over the length and was often seen bowling at lines one does not expect or want a bowler to bowl in England. He failed to create pressure on the English batsmen, unlike Ishant and Shami, and bowled at a slower pace, something he is not used to bowling. He had been comfortable bowling at a good pace of 140km/h+ in the IPL, along with maintaining stringent lines and lengths, but he seemed a lesser penetrative and dangerous bowler in this match.

Umesh Yadav looked way less effective in the 1st Test

However, Kuldeep Yadav has been India's X-factor in this England tour, scalping wickets at regular intervals in the limited overs' series and also confusing the batsmen with his mystery spin. Someone who has been the X-factor against a side that is predominantly weak against spin definitely deserves to play.

Although Joe Root was last seen playing him easily and seemed to have decoded his mystery spin, there are a number of batsmen who were not part of the limited-overs' series' squads and would be facing Kuldeep for the first time. Not only that, several batsmen in the squad who did play the ODIs and/or T20Is could not play him well and were often beaten by his spin.

Given the way Ashwin has claimed wickets in the both the innings, going through the defense of Alastair Cook on both occasions, playing Kuldeep could prove to be a masterstroke. As the fast bowling department is being well managed by Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami and Hardik Pandya, it would be interesting to see if Kuldeep could bring his magic to the Test format as well or not.

Kuldeep Yadav has been extraordinarily successful in England so far