‘I’m a little baffled that Kuldeep Yadav wasn’t picked in Edgbaston Test’ – Sunil Gavaskar lashes out at Indian team management

Sunil Gavaskar questioned the Indian team management’s decision of not including Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI for the second Test against England at Edgbaston, Birmingham, which started on Wednesday, July 2.

According to various reports, Kuldeep was in line to play the second Test for a couple of reasons. One of them was Ravindra Jadeja’s lack of penetration in the first Test. Meanwhile, the second reason was based around the Edgbaston track providing more help for the spinners, especially with warm conditions expected in Birmingham during the week.

However, Shubman Gill mentioned at the toss that they pondered over bringing Kuldeep into the side but eventually decided against it to bolster the batting attack. Instead of Kuldeep, all-rounder Washington Sundar was picked in the playing XI.

“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,” Gavaskar said on Sony Sports Network.

Apart from Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep have come into the side. Jasprit Bumrah has been rested, while Shardul Thakur and Sai Sudharsan were left out.

Where you needed strengthening was in the wicket-taking department: Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar pointed out that the Indian batters fared well in the first Test and scored 835 runs across the two innings. However, the bowlers couldn’t take all 20 England wickets. The former India captain opined that instead of picking so many all-rounders to bolster the batting, India should have given themselves the best chance of picking 20 wickets.

“If your top-order batters are not giving you the runs you expect, then Washington at 7 or Nitish Reddy at 8 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.