Since the first Test at Leeds, India has been batting-heavy, with head coach Gautam Gambhir preferring players who can do both. Washington, the off-spinner, comes at 8 normally, and that has irked the former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin has slammed India's obsession with batting till number 8, especially at the cost of sacrificing Kuldeep Yadav. Nitish Reddy was injured, which got Shardul Thakur in. Thakur added runs with the bat, and with the ball too. Indian captain Shubman Gill literally gave him just five overs, where he leaked 35 runs, 7 runs short of what he scored with the bat! Pointing this out, Ashwin said a player at 8 should take at least 2 to 3 wickets even if not a fifer. On his YouTube channel, Ash said, "See, you may get 20-30 extra runs from the No.8 batter, but if that player at No.8 takes 2-3 wickets, then the complexion of the Test match can change. The management decided to play Nitish Kumar Reddy at Lord's and Birmingham, I'll admit that was an okay decision, because he is a top-six calibre batter, and he is not Ben Stokes yet, but there is skill in his bowling." Read also: Ravi Shastri Reveals Pant’s Grit Before 4th Test at Manchester Pathetic India on day 2, might miss Kuldeep Yadav India has been pathetic with the ball on day 2, managing just 2 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah was pretty flat, Mohammed Siraj looked tired, and debutant Anshul Khamboj was nervy, even though he got Ben Duckett (94). England ended the day with 225 runs on the board. In such a scenario, Ashwin reminded that having someone like Kuldeep Yadav would have actually made the batters think. He said, "Once Nitish Kumar Reddy went out of the picture at No.6, it was a no-brainer to play Kuldeep Yadav. Fifteen full days of cricket has happened already, your fast bowling attack is tiring, Siraj was tiring. Even though Bumrah's workload has been managed, it is still not an easy task. Kuldeep Yadav is a serious miss for India, and England are ahead in the Test. Shubman Gill is unable to give six over, seven over spells to Bumrah, you cannot run him to the ground. I felt the spinners could have been rotated better." He added, "If somebody would have told me that Kuldeep Yadav will not be playing any part in the first four Tests, I would have been very very surprised. Unfortunately, it is our obsession with batting, and looking for those 20-30 extra runs. Gone are those days in England, that advantage of 20-30 runs is gone. If your No.7 makes 30 runs, and your No.8 makes 30 runs, you have extra 60 runs. Earlier that 60 runs used to be very useful, because bowlers used to get help from the pitch."