Batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar upset with India’s Playing XI for 2nd Test vs Bangladesh, claimed it ‘unbelievable’

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has slammed Team India’s selection for the 2nd Test against Bangladesh by terming it ‘unbelievable.’

As KL Rahul announced the squad for the final Test of the bilateral contest on Thursday morning, the cricket fraternity was in complete shock with the exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav from playing XI as the experienced spinner was adjudged Player of the Match in the previous Test.

Notably, Jayadev Unadkat replaced Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI, while Axar Patel and R. Ashwin remained in the squad. While speaking on Sony Sports Network, Gavaskar used the ‘gentle word’ by calling out team management as they opted to exclude star performer of the previous Test.

“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. You have got two other spinners – Axar Patel and R. Ashwin. 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 pitches looks like,” Gavaskar said.

Even India women’s team captain Anjum Chopra claimed Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion was strange as she took a microblogging site to express her disbelief.

“Man of the match in India’s last Test victory just three days ago, Kuldeep Yadav makes way for Jayadev Unadkat as a third seamer for India. Strange but a tactical change,” wrote Anjum on Twitter.

Umesh Yadav admitted that Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion from the squad was ‘unfortunate.’ “It has happened with me. Sometimes you perform; sometime, you are sitting out of the team because of a management call. But it was good for Kuldeep that he came back and performed well. This is the team and management call. Sometimes we have to go with the team requirements. You see the wicket and after that, the management takes the call,” Umesh said.

Interestingly, India’s stand-in skipper KL Rahul could not make anything of the surface after seeing it in morning.

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“To be honest, on seeing the surface, not sure what to make of it. There is some grass that you can see, but it’s generally good to bat here. There is generally some bounce here and some help for both pacers and spinners. It does seem damp and we need to get early wickets. Unfortunate decisions for us to leave Kuldeep out but its an opportunity for Unadkat,” said Rahul.

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