India vs England | Low-scoring series makes an extra batsman vital, reckons Sunil Gavaskar

Team India head into the second Test match against Joe Root & Co. trailing by a margin of 1-0 after a narrow 31-run loss at Edgbaston in the series opener. The Indian batting order was to blame for the loss as Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, was the only Indian to cross the 50-run mark as he scored 149 and 51 in consecutive innings.

The Indians were set a lowly target of 194 but failed to reach the score as they were bowled out for 180. According to Gavaskar, this was an indication that the ongoing series would be low scoring affair and made it important to possess an extra batsman in the starting line-up.

“Great players make the mental adjustment quicker than the others and Kohli kept making it virtually every delivery he faced. Despite playing and missing at the start when the ball was moving considerably, he gritted it out, shortening his back lift and reducing his bat speed. As the movement lessened, he began to unfurl the range of shots that he has in his armoury. Unfortunately, others didn’t make the mental change needed.

"The first Test showed that unless the pitch is a batting beauty this is going to be a low-scoring series, so it's vital for the team to go with an extra batsman," Gavaskar wrote in his column for TOI.

Gavaskar, who played 125 Tests for India, also added that if Shikhar Dhawan was indeed not selected for the second Test as well it would not come as a surprise. Gavaskar said that the left-handed opener gets carried away too easily and ends up choking at the crease early on.

"If the news, that Dhawan is the one who is dropped, is correct then it hardly is a surprise, for every time the team loses he is the first one axed even when he has scored more runs in the lost game than others who retain their places. If there is so little faith in him then why pick him in the touring party at all? Dhawan also has himself to blame as when he is batting well, he throws his wicket away to an indiscreet shot," Gavaskar wrote in his column for TOI.