SAMAJ WEEKLY UK-
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics – 22nd June 2025
India’s performance in the 1st Test against England has once again raised serious questions about the team selection. After a strong start on Day 1, a batting collapse and ineffective bowling have left India with an uphill task to save the match. At the center of the criticism is the selection of Shardul Thakur, a player whose role in the team seems unclear and ineffective in current conditions. He bowls short, has no control whatsoever. He should have been bowling tight with discipline so the strike bowler can have rest.
Shardul Thakur was chosen as a seam-bowling all-rounder, but so far he has contributed little with either bat or ball. In a crucial innings where India needed lower-order resistance, he managed only a single run. He played a reckless shot. With the ball, he was given very few overs and failed to make any impact, conceding runs at a high economy rate. If he was selected as a bowler, he should have bowled more; if as a batsman, his contribution with the bat fell far short of what was expected from him.
His bowling was so bad that it put extra pressure Jasprit Bumrah. He has just returned after serious injury due to being overused in bowling in Australia.
The decision to include Thakur over a specialist bowler like Mukesh Kumar Arshdeep Singh or a better all-rounder has weakened the balance of the team. He may have performed well in the warm up match. But he seems to lack basic skills with bat and bowl. In English conditions, where swing and seam matter most, India needed bowlers who could bowl long spells with control. Instead, the burden was left on frontline bowlers like Bumrah and Siraj, while Thakur barely featured in the attack.
Team selection in Test cricket must be based on form, fitness, and suitability to the conditions. Thakur’s recent form in red-ball cricket has not been convincing, and his selection appears more based on reputation or past performances than current readiness.
India’s team selection for the 1st Test has clearly backfired. The inclusion of players who are not fully prepared for the demands of Test cricket in England has hurt the team’s chances. Going forward, the selectors must make bolder, smarter decisions—picking players based on role clarity and form, not just past heroics.
