Sunil Gavaskar explodes over Kuldeep Yadav snub, exposes Gautam Gambhir's blunder: 'Nitish Reddy, Sundar won't fix that'

India vs England 2nd Test: Sunil Gavaskar was ‘baffled’ as India ignored Kuldeep Yadav again and picked Washington Sundar as the second spinner

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was left fuming after the Indian team management, comprising captain Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir, decided against picking Kuldeep Yadav for the second Test match against England on Wednesday in Birmingham.

Kuldeep Yadav was not picked for the 2nd Test against England

Amid the growing dilemma over Jasprit Bumrah's participation in the second Test, experts unanimously backed the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav, reminding India of their dire need for a wicket-taking bowler after a lacklustre show from the fellow quicks in Leeds.

However, India did not pay attention to the call for the second Test, as Kuldeep was ignored again, leaving Gavaskar "baffled."

Speaking to Sony Sports Network, the India batting legend said: "I'm a little baffled that Kuldeep wasn't picked, because on a pitch like this, where everybody says there's a little more turn."

India did add a second spinner to the playing XI, with Washington Sundar replacing Shardul Thakur, but the move, as explained by captain Gill at the toss, was made keeping lower-order batting in mind, whose failure had led to a five-wicket loss in Leeds in the series opener against England.

To add more depth to both batting and bowling, and to compensate for resting Bumrah in Birmingham, India picked an additional fast-bowling option in all-rounder Nitish Reddy, and Sai Sudharsan paid the price for it.

Gavaskar lashed out at both moves, highlighting that batting was never an issue for India after they scored more than 800 runs in Leeds across the two innings and that they rather needed wicket-taking bowlers.

"If your top-order batters are not giving you the runs you expect, then Washington at seven or Nitish Reddy at eight won't necessarily fix that, because those weren't the batters who failed you in the first Test. You scored 830 runs. You didn't score 380 in two innings — it was 830-plus. That's a lot of runs," he said.

"So, where you needed strengthening was in the wicket-taking department, not so much in the batting," Gavaskar concluded.

England, who have a 1-0 lead in the series, won the toss and opted to bowl at Edgbaston.