India may have opened the three-match ODI series with a comfortable six-wicket win over England at Edgbaston, but the decision to leave Kuldeep Yadav out of the playing XI continued to spark debate after the match. The visitors made a dream start with the ball as Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar ripped through England’s top order. The hosts slipped from 61 without loss to 107 for 6, before Joe Root and Liam Dawson stitched together a 121-run partnership for the seventh wicket to revive the innings and take England to 258. During the recovery, former India pacer Varun Aaron questioned India’s team combination, arguing that the absence of Kuldeep deprived the side of a genuine wicket-taking option in the middle overs. “India has Kuldeep Yadav. Axar Patel is bowling arm balls into the batter and bowling all those sliders. You have to play around with your speeds and the seam position to get something out of the wicket,” Aaron said on commentary. He also felt England’s batters had become comfortable against Axar Patel because they were not expecting significant turn from the left-arm spinner. “The English batters are setting up to play Axar as an off-spinner. It is very obvious he is not going to turn the ball past the batter. How do you get wickets in the middle overs? Jasprit Bumrah cannot be your answer to all your problems,” Aaron added. Despite England’s fightback, India completed the chase with ease to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Captain Shubman Gill once again excelled at Edgbaston with a fluent 80 before retiring hurt due to cramps, while Axar Patel backed up his four-wicket haul with an unbeaten 57. Washington Sundar also remained unbeaten on 52 as the pair shared a match-winning 102-run stand to seal the chase in 45.2 overs. Earlier, Axar finished with figures of 4/62 after cleaning up England’s lower order, but Root’s 76 and Dawson’s career-best 68 had helped the hosts recover from a precarious position after India’s fast bowlers dominated the opening phase.
