New Delhi: Former great Sunil Gavaskar criticized the surprise decision to drop spinner Kuldeep Yadav from the playing XI of the second Test, terming it as ‘unbelievable’. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav took a career-best 5 for 40 in the first innings of the first Test (India vs Bangladesh) in Chittagong.
He took three wickets in the second innings as well, taking match-best figures of eight for 113 as India won the match by 188 runs. However, pacer Jaydev Unadkat replaced him in the playing XI in the second Test starting on Thursday in Mirpur, leaving Gavaskar, former Test bowler Doda Ganesh and former women’s captain Anjum Chopra to wonder why the final team management took such a decision.
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Commenting on the series’ broadcaster ‘Sony Sports Network’, Gavaskar said, “To get the best player of the match out, it’s unbelievable.” I can only use this word and it is a gentle word. I wanted to use very strong words but it is unbelievable that you left out the best player of the match who took eight out of 20 wickets.
He said, “You had two more spinners (Ravichandran Ashwin and Akshar Patel). Certainly any one of the other spinners could have been dropped. But the guy who took eight wickets should have played today looking at the pitch.” Ganesh is shocked that Kuldeep was treated like this.
The fast bowler, who played four Tests, wrote on social media, “Why does this happen again and again with Kuldeep Yadav. You can’t do this to him over and over again. Please put your hand on his shoulder and tell him not to lose his courage. Yes, bad happened to Kuldeep Yadav. I am sad for him.
“Also, the decision to drop him today is all the more preposterous and against the logic of cricket, given that the Bangladesh players were finding it difficult to read his deliveries in the last Test,” he said. Do you want your match winner to sit out.”
Ganesh said, “I think the think tank should show more restraint when it comes to young players performing well and change the team composition accordingly. The last time he played the extra fast bowler in Hyderabad by dismissing Karun Nair, who scored an unbeaten 303 runs. And now it happened with Kuldeep Yadav. Shocking.”
Kuldeep also performed well with the bat, scoring 40 runs in the first innings. Former Indian women’s cricket team captain Anjum also termed Kuldeep’s ouster as strange. Anjum wrote on social media, “Just three days ago, Jaydev Unadkat was fed as the third fast bowler to get rid of Kuldeep Yadav, the best player of India’s last Test match. Surprising but strategic change.