India, June 16 -- India has never been reliant on Shardul Thakur as a fast bowling all-rounder, especially with the 33-year-old being highly inconsistent in the batting department. But he recently proved his mettle during the intra-squad warm-up ahead of the England Tests with a century and was also among the wicket-takers. Lately, the Indian team has also used Nitish Kumar Reddy as a fast-bowling all-rounder and the SRH player has been a success. But his poor IPL 2025 form has cast question marks over his selection for the first Test.

Speaking to PTI, former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh gave his backing to Shardul, and felt that he holds an edge over Reddy for the fast bowling all-rounder slot in the team.

"India needs a bowler who ...