Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin wants Indian team management to consider playing Kuldeep Yadav in the second Test against England. The second Test of the ongoing five-match series between India and England will be played at Edgbaston in Birmingham from July 2 to 6. Ashwin, who is India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Test as well as international cricket, said Kuldeep is an artist, and he wants to see how England batters tackle him. “I want to see how England go about when they face him. If Kuldeep can get you a 3/100 and reduce the first-inning score to 350, then you have a lead of 125,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, ‘Ash Ki Baat.’ “I 100 percent believe that Kuldeep had a role, and he would be a decisive factor. If Kuldeep had played (in Leeds), it might have been a different game,” he added. Kuldeep, who last played a Test match for India in October 2024 against New Zealand in Bengaluru, has 21 wickets to his name in six Tests played so far against England. He last played a red-ball match against England in March last year and picked up a five-wicket haul in the first innings at HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. In the first Test against England, Indian fielders, especially Yashasvi Jaiswal, dropped multiple catches, and it came back to hurt India as England batters made full use of the lifelines given to them. For his poor show in the field, Jaiswal faced a lot of criticism from fans and experts of the game, but Ashwin has defended him. “Jaiswal has been one of the most improved fielders in the slip cordon… The Duke’s ball feels a little bigger and harder. So, that feel is very important. You know how much sledging is done by the crowd. So, I do feel for Yashasvi.” Ashwin also pointed to a subtle yet crucial aspect of Test match strategy that he felt India missed in Leeds — the creation of rough patches on the pitch to aid the spinners. “We should try and create more rough patches. If you had England bowling fourth, you would have seen a lot more scuff marks on the pitch,” he pointed out.