India's baffling use of Shardul Thakur in the Headingley Test poses uncomfortable questions for both their selection philosophy and tactics.
Few were surprised when, at the toss on day one, Thakur found a spot in the playing XI. Between the hangover from playing five bowlers, the pre-eminent strategy of the last decade, and the preference for batting insurance under India's current regime, Thakur was expected to provide a fifth bowling option as well as chip in with a few runs at No.8.
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This is not to say India had no other option, but the other ones would change the balance of the side. Nitish Kumar Reddy would likely have provided more with the bat, but less with the ball. Kuldeep Yadav would have altered the combination to a 3-2 seam-spin attack and provided less with the bat, and one of Akash Deep or Arshdeep Singh would see India effectively go in with four No.11s.
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The latter was something India skipper Shubman Gill had teased in his pre-match press conference: “One of our key discussion points [has been] how we're gonna take 20 wickets. And there might be a case, you know, where we could only be going with some pure batters and you could see a bowling all-rounder and three to four premier fast bowlers or proper bowlers.”
Not that many took that suggestion overly seriously. India's team selections since Gautam Gambhir took over as head coach have tilted towards ensuring batting depth, even, as in Australia most recently, at the cost of bowling depth.
In the first innings, Thakur was out for one as India lost their last seven wickets for 41 runs, to finish on 471. Not ideal, but not a complete disaster for a No.8. In any case, he would come into the game with the ball.
Except...he didn't.
On day two, after they were bowled out, India sent down 49 overs. Thakur's first over was the 40th of the innings, and he bowled only three in all (conceding 23 runs). On day three, it was the same story. He bowled only three of the 51.4 on the day, conceding 15 runs.
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At this point in time, Thakur is neither a bowler nor a batter for India. Presumably, the idea behind picking him over Nitish Kumar Reddy was that India could get more overs out of him. Reddy, raw as he is, remains capable of giving the visitors six overs out of 100.4, especially when those come in the middle overs, primarily to give the frontline quicks a breather. It goes without saying that he is a far superior batter to Thakur.
The baffling usage aside, India do have another issue with his selection. Having been left out of the squad for the Australia tour in December, he put together a 35-wicket Ranji Trophy season to force himself back into contention for England.
On paper, that is an excellent return from 10 matches. But crucially, Thakur was often given the new ball for Mumbai. In 16 of his 18 bowling innings this season, he sent down the very first delivery. His returns, in fact, were staggeringly new-ball dependent.
Twenty of his wickets came in the first 20 overs of the innings, and another eight between over 80 and 100, traditionally when the second new ball arrives. Seventeen of these scalps were in the first 10 overs of an innings, and nine were in the first over alone.
Taking the new ball and making use of the early movement is a luxury Thakur was never going to have in the Indian team, especially with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the side.
His early-innings glut this season does not necessarily suggest, of course, that Thakur is ineffective during the middle overs. In fact, he has made his name in Test cricket as a partnership-breaker, when little else is happening for the other bowlers. Indeed, only seven of his 36 Test wickets have come in the aforementioned new-ball phases. Even here, he nearly trapped Jamie Smith lbw with a full toss.
But then again, the last of those Tests was 18 months ago – and Thakur also had to undergo foot surgery in 2024. Whether that has affected his bowling to the extent that he is far more dependent on the movement of the new(ish) ball to be effective is not entirely clear, but it may be the case. In addition, the flatter wickets in England these days, combined with a warmer climate, mean the window for generating genuine swing decreases.
If and when he does play, then, India might be best off using him either with the new ball, or as the first-change bowler at most. That of course, could mean taking it out of the hands of Bumrah or Siraj, superior bowlers overall.
We have no way of knowing whether India knew, or considered, that the window of utility for Thakur could be this limited but Gill's reluctance to turn to him, and even go to spinner Ravindra Jadeja, in England, ahead of him suggests at least some level of a lack of faith.
India have two ways to go on this; use Thakur at the top of the innings, or rejig the XI, to change the balance of the side. They must choose one – used in this way, India effectively play with ten-and-a-half instead of eleven.
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