Kolkata, June 20 -- Leeds being the venue for the first Test between India and England, it won't be out of place to think that there is going to be a toss-up between Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav for the lone spinner's spot. Assuming three specialist pacers will be picked, it leaves one spot for the seaming allrounder if India want to assert themselves with five wicket-taking options. It also would require finding an option that adds depth to the batting as well. The Indian team management will have to choose between Shardul Thakur and Nitish Reddy for that allrounder's spot. A good headache to have, most would say, but a tricky selection nevertheless considering the small but key role allrounders tend to assume in England. You don't have to look beyond the drawn 1-1 tour of 2002 when Sanjay Bangar was used as a floating batting and bowling option to catch England off-guard. Achieving the same or more should be the idea here. Reddy's Test debut was in Australia where a hundred at Melbourne helped him average 37.25 across five Tests. But the ball doesn't seam as much in Australia as it does in England. That negates Reddy's recent form factor to a great degree. Fast bowling coach Morne Morkel has said he wants Reddy to bowl more, and find "that magical ball". Ravi Shastri weighed in on the issue, saying on ICC Review on Tuesday: "I know it'll be a tough one between Shardul and Nitish, but you have to see who bowls how much. If Reddy is going to give you 12,14 overs, then he might get the nod because of his batting." The thing is, Reddy hasn't bowled much in recent months. In fact, he bowled just five overs across 13 matches during this IPL, having just recovered from a side strain. Before that in Australia, he bowled just 44 overs in five Tests, meaning his contribution with the bat ended up being an inadvertent gain. India can't afford to go with four bowling options, especially when England know that Jasprit Bumrah could opt out of two Tests to keep himself viable for the entire series. Picking Reddy thus could entail the risk of conceding the bowling edge to England. Thakur, on the other hand, has taken 35 wickets bowling almost 235 overs in the last Ranji Trophy, and bowled 34 overs in 10 IPL matches. He has the knack of breaking partnerships, and can play a match-saving knock. Most importantly, he played four of his 11 Tests in England. His pace shouldn't bother batters, but Thakur's ability to get the ball to move is something England would be wary of. Batting experience in England too counts, unless you want to momentarily ignore the jittery note with which India's specialist batting would be approaching the first Test after the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Rishabh Pant, Jadeja and Thakur as the lower order batting thus makes a lot of sense, especially in the wake of the hundred Thakur scored in the intra-squad warmup game the touring party played. "It's always exciting to play in this part of the world," Thakur said in an interview to bcci.tv on Tuesday after that game was wrapped up. "The biggest challenge is the weather, sometimes it's cloudy, sometimes bright and sunny, and you need to adjust your game quickly, whether you're batting or bowling." Something he achieved with distinction in 2021. Series tied 1-1 after three Tests, India were in trouble after being reduced to 127/7 in the first innings at the Oval. Thakur blasted 57 off 36 balls to take India to a respectable 191, before scoring another fifty - 60 off 72 balls - in the second innings to help set England a 368-run target. England's openers put on 100 but Thakur made the ball hold its line to Rory Burns, who edged it to Pant. Joe Root batted doggedly till he was dislodged by an innocuous delivery from Thakur that made him play on to his stumps. Safe to say India couldn't have won that Test, or wrested a number of highs throughout the series, without Thakur doing what he does best. To not seek the same comfort seems unwise, especially now that in Shubman Gill India have a learning captain. Defeats, if any, wouldn't be held against him keeping in mind the larger scheme of things. But it should also not be forgotten how in his brief career Gill must have picked up some of the virtues of Kohli as a bowlers' leader. Choosing the specialists is always easy, till the mind starts playing games when it comes to the key positions. Trickiest of them all is that of the allrounder, at a venue like Headingley that has been kind to seamers. History says that between scoring a 30-40 run innings and bowling a couple of game-changing overs, India captains have almost always flocked towards the comfort of the former. That this isn't that sort of a conundrum only adds to the unpredictable flavour of the series....