In the second Test of the series on Thursday, India took the field without Kuldeep Yadav, surprising many spectators and former cricketers. In the first Test, Kuldeep put on a player-of-the-match display, picking up a five-wicket haul and finishing with eight dismissals. The spinner had also made a bat-related contribution, going 40 in the lower order to help India achieve a respectable total of 404 in the first innings.
Jaydev Unadkat, a bowler playing in his first Test for India since 2010, replaced Kuldeep. KL Rahul said that it was “unfortunate,” “Sunil Gavaskar, a former captain of India and batting icon, criticized the team management for making the decision to leave the spinner out. Jaydev Unadkat, a bowler playing in his first Test for India since 2010, replaced Kuldeep. KL Rahul said that it was “unfortunate,” “Sunil Gavaskar, a former captain of India and batting icon, criticized the team management for making the decision to leave the spinner out.
“Dropping a Man of the Match, is unbelievable. That’s the only word I can use and it’s a gentle word. I would like to use quite stronger words, but it’s unbelievable that you left out a man of the match, who got eight out of the 20 wickets,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying to Sony Sports Network. “You have got two other spinners. So surely, one of the other spinners could have been dropped. But this guy, who took eight wickets should have played today with due respect to what the pitch looks like,” he added.
Kuldeep had rejoined the Indian Test team, his first appearance there since March 2021. In the first Test’s two innings, he recorded outstanding stats of 5/40 and 3/73. Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of Bangladesh, won the toss and chose to bat in Dhaka earlier. Yasir Ali and Ebadot Hossain have been replaced by Mominul Haque, a batsman, and Taskin Ahmed, a fast bowler, in the hosts’ XI.
