Playing Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Hardik Pandya could be good idea, believes Mohinder Amarnath

Jadeja and Ashwin were on the periphery of the Indian Test team for a long time, well before the duo earned their recall for the ongoing five-match Test series against England. While Ashwin was given a chance in the first Test at Edgbaston, during which he put in a splendid display with the ball, Hardik Pandya was preferred over Jadeja in the playing XI.

However, Amarnath lauded the performance of the Indian bowling attack in the first match as he hoped that they could continue to trouble the English batsmen in a similar fashion for the remainder of the series. Ishant Sharma picked up a fifer in the second innings while Ashwin picked four in the first as England struggled to tackle the visitors' pace and spin.

However, batting was a concern for the Indians as only skipper Virat Kohli managed to cross the 50-run mark in both innings while the rest of the Indians crumbled one after the other in a narrow 31-run loss at Edgbaston. At such a moment, Amarnath opined that the Indian team would benefit with the addition of Cheteshwar Pujara to the starting lineup who could prove to be crucial during the rest of the series.

"The batting was a reflection of the fact that the top-order needs to really work on their technique, and quickly. Some of the shortcomings I could pick out were that they were too loose, lacked balance and had too much bat speed on their shots. Other than perhaps in London — which is facing an unusually hot summer — the Indian batsmen will have to negotiate the moving ball and they simply need to be tighter, and exhibit more balance at the crease.