The Indian cricket team left everyone stunned with their rather shocking decision to drop Kuldeep Yadav from the playing XI for the ongoing second Test match against Bangladesh in Mirpur. Kuldeep has impressed one and all with his terrific performance in the first Test match, where he picked a five-wicket hail and ended the game with eight dismissals to his name. The spinner had also contributed with the bat, scoring an important 40 batting down the order to help India post a total of 404 runs in the first innings. All thanks to his amazing performance, he was awarded the Man of the Match award.
Kuldeep, who played his first Test match since March 2021, registered impressive figures of 5/40 and 3/73 across the two innings of the first Test. He was replaced by Jaydev Unadkat, who is playing in his first Test for India since 2010. At the toss, India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul explained the reason why Kuldeep was dropped from the playing XI. He said:
“Hard decision on Kuldeep but we know Ashwin and Axar can find spin, and bring Jaydev in to cover all bases,”
Sunil Gavaskar Lashed Out At The Team Management
Meanwhile, India’s decision to drop Kuldeep from the playing XI didn’t go down well with the fans and experts. Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was also left disappointed with India’s decision and lashed out at the team management for the same reason. Deeming the decision “unbelievable,” Gavaskar said:
“Dropping a Man of the Match, that 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,”
He added: “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,”
Vijay Lokapally Slammed Team India’s Decision
Veteran cricket journalist Vijay Lokapally also took to his social media and expressed his disappointment over team India’s decision. In his Tweet, Lokapally expressed how having watched cricket since 1969 and writing about the game since 1981, he has failed to understand the logic behind dropping Kuldeep. He slammed India’s decision of dropping a “Man of the Match” awardee in the next game. He wrote:
“Having watched (since 1969) and written on cricket (since 1981) I am at a loss to understand the exclusion of @imkuldeep18 from the Dhaka Test. I have obviously not learnt well to accept that a Man of the Match can be dropped for the next match 🤔 Some process 😡😡”
Check out the Tweet:
Having watched (since 1969) and written on cricket (since 1981) I am at a loss to understand the exclusion of @imkuldeep18 from the Dhaka Test. I have obviously not learnt well to accept that a Man of the Match can be dropped for the next match 🤔 Some process 😡😡
— Vijay Lokapally 🇮🇳 (@vijaylokapally) December 22, 2022
