Former England captain turned commentator Alastair Cook made a huge claim on India’s playing XI for the second Test, which is set to begin on Wednesday, July 2, at Birmingham as well. However, India are in England for a five-match Test series and lost the first Test in Leeds. And, Cook said that the visitors may have to drop either Karun Nair or Sai Sudharsan. He further added that they should play Nitish Kumar Reddy as an all-rounder and extra bowling option, along with wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav as well.

“They might have to leave out either Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan and play Nitish Kumar Reddy, who can bat and also bowl some phantom seamers, and then they can play Kuldeep Yadav as an extra spinner,” he wrote in his column in UK newspaper The Sunday Times. (via The Indian Express).

READ HERE: “He is like a computer” – Steven Finn hails Jasprit Bumrah after his fifer on Day 3

Alastair Cook also opened up about India’s new Test captain, Shubman Gill, and how he looked to have taken a backseat during the fourth innings of the opening Test.

“You could see lots of people out on the field making decisions and getting involved with DRS calls, and they got all of those wrong. You can read all the leadership books you like but until you are out there, there is no other feeling like it. I imagine he [Gill] would have felt shell-shocked,” he added.

“I think in India’s second innings a more established captain might have thought ‘we’re 340 ahead and five down, let’s put some pressure on England’. As it was they were bowled out with a lead of just over 370 anyway, but it might have helped their situation to have attacked a bit more,” Alastair Cook concluded.