Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav featured for Team India in the Chattogram test match against Bangladesh in what was his maiden test in almost 2 years. The 28-year-old seized the chance with both hands, taking 8 wickets in the match including a first-inning five-for to be declared the Player of The Match.
The rollicking comeback, which also included an important 114-ball-40, however, was not enough for Kuldeep to retain his place for the 2nd test of the ongoing tour.
Major chunks of Indian cricket pundits and fans were left shocked at the decision to snub Kuldeep despite the bowler doing everything in his hands to make himself the first name on the team sheet for the 2nd Test against Bangladesh.
Former Team India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was also amongst those enraged over the horror treatment Kuldeep received.
Sunil Gavaskar slams Team India over Kuldeep Yadav decision
“To drop a Man of the Match (of the previous match) is absolutely unbelievable… and unbelievable is a very gentle word. I want to use more harsh words”, a furious Gavaskar quipped on Sony Sports Network.
“Drop a player who picked eight out of the 20 wickets in the last game and have two other spinners? One of those 2 should have been dropped and he (Kuldeep) should have played no matter what”.
Notably, Kuldeep Yadav had outperformed the other two spinners (Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel) Team India had fielded in the first match by some margin.
The dewy-eyed chinaman had taken eight wickets at an average of 14.125 while Patel-Ashwin could manage just 5 together, averaging 37.20 runs per wicket.
Therefore, the decision to axe Kuldeep was indeed baffling. The Twitteratis too, feel that the management didn’t make a great call dropping the spinner.
Dropping Kuldeep Yadav after his man of the match performance is a disgrace! RT if you agree, share max. #KuldeepYadav #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/AkkDtkdY72
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) December 22, 2022
Kuldeep Yadav's batting left many insecure. This is what my sources say.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) December 22, 2022
Wowww…India Dropped Kuldeep Yadav…have to say team management knows who to drop…the most under performing players is your captain and another most underperforming player is your wicketkeeper batsman… waah re waah ye duniya @BCCI
— Samip Rajguru (@samiprajguru) December 22, 2022
Man of the match and all if fine, Kuldeep Yadav needs to focus on his Tattoo game to be regularly selected.
— Abijit Ganguly (@AbijitG) December 22, 2022
Kuldeep Yadav:- Why always me?#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/oATFgMrXFY
— Sudhanshu Ranjan Singh (@memegineers_) December 22, 2022
It was Jaydev Unadkat –representing Team India in a test after a 12-year gap– who replaced Kuldeep Yadav in the starting eleven for the second test that begun on 22 December. The left-armer was rewarded for his decade-long toil in the domestic circuit and took 2 of the first 4 wickets that fell, denying the hosts a good start.
However, one would feel Unadkat’s return should not have come at the expense for Kuldeep, but someone else.
