For the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka, which started on Thursday, the Indian team management made a bold call of dropping the Player of the Match from the first Test – Kuldeep Yadav.
This call was met with severe criticism of captain KL Rahul and head coach Rahul Dravid for axing the chinaman who had picked up 8 wickets, including a five-wicket haul, and scored crucial 40 runs with the bat in Chattogram.
Instead of a third spinner in Kuldeep, India opted for a third seamer in Jaydev Unadkat, who played in only his second career Test match and first since making his debut way back in 2010 in South Africa, to partner Umesh and Siraj after observing the grass on the surface at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.
Many fans and experts called this decision by KL Rahul and Dravid as harsh and unfair on Kuldeep, who is making a comeback to the Indian side.
But this decision was vindicated by the Indian bowlers as Umesh and Unadkat picked up 6 combined wickets, and along with Ashwin’s 4 wickets, bowled Bangladesh out for 227. Some fans even argued that had the spinner needed to be dropped, then it could have been Axar.
Commentator Harsha Bhogle gives his opinion on Kuldeep Yadav getting dropped
Soon after the match began, renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle took to Twitter to express his emotions about the decision of dropping Kuldeep Yadav made by the team management. While Bhogle didn’t make any comment about the selection (or non-selection), he suggested it was “very hard” on the leg-spinner to be dropped in the Test after picking up a five-wicket haul.
“Very hard on @imkuldeep18. This will make him tougher. Many more wickets on the way,” Bhogle tweeted.
Here is Harsha Bhogle’s tweet on Kuldeep Yadav that has gone viral:
Very hard on @imkuldeep18. This will make him tougher. Many more wickets on the way.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 22, 2022
Indian openers, KL Rahul and Shubman Gill, negotiated the last half hour carefully to remain unbeaten on 19/0 and will look to dig in for big knocks tomorrow.
