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‘Everything will be forgotten’: Ex-India cricketer's dig at team management for dropping Kuldeep Yadav vs Bangladesh
India's decision to drop Kuldeep Yadav from the second Test vs Bangladesh drew flak from all quarters including legendary cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar. Former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, who has been an advocate for Kuldeep Yadav, also came up with a stern tweet.
India's stand-in captain KL Rahul gave an early morning shock to the fans by uncomfortably announcing that there was no place for Kuldeep Yadav in the XI for the second and final Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Mirpur on Thursday. It was shocking, to say the least. Of all Indian bowlers, Kuldeep's place was never in question after the kind of performance he put in barely a few days ago in Chattogram.
Kuldeep registered the best figures by an Indian spinner - 5/40 - in Bangladesh in the first innings of the series opener. He backed that up with three more wickets in the second innings to return with career-best figures for 8 for 113. The left-arm wrist spinner, playing his first Test since February 2021, was adjudged Player of the Match in India's 188-run win. Not to forget, with the bat also he played a career-best 40-run knock in India's first innings, forging an important partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin (58) to help the side cross the 400-run mark.
Naturally, India's decision drew flak from all quarters including legendary cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar. Former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, who has been an advocate for Kuldeep Yadav, also came up with a stern tweet.
"Ultimately India will win the match and everything will be forgotten," Sivaramakrishnan wrote, clearly taking a dig at the team management.
Rahul did not directly give reasons for the 'unfortunate' decision of dropping Kuldeep but did give indications that it may have been the coaching staff's call. "I'm not too disappointed because I have no idea what to expect from this pitch. I've taken advice from the experts: the coaching staff and seniors, to learn more about the pitch. We have confidence from the win in our first Test, and we need to get our minds in here. It might be damp in the first session, getting early wickets would be good. The unfortunate decision for us to leave Kuldeep out," he said at the toss.
To be fair to the Indian team management, their decision to bring back left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat after a gap of more than 12 years, hasn't proved to be a bad move. In fact, it is Unadkat, who has looked the most threatening among the Indian bowlers on Day 1, picking up the wickets of opener Zakir Hasan and the well-set Mushfiqur Rahim.
