Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his confusion over the decision to omit Kuldeep Yadav from the playing eleven for the second Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur, calling it "unbelievable". Kuldeep, who made a successful comeback to Test cricket after a 22-month absence, was named Player of the Match in the first Test, in which he took eight wickets and made a career-best 40 with the bat. Overall, Kuldeep picked up eight wickets in the match, while conceding 113 runs, including a fantastic 5-40 to bowl out Bangladesh for 150 in their first innings. He also made a vital contribution with the bat, adding 92 runs for the eighth wicket with Ravichandran Ashwin to help India post 404.
However, on Thursday, India stand-in captain K.L. Rahul announced that Kuldeep had been left out of the playing eleven and left-arm fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat had been included in his place. The decision left many, including Gavaskar, baffled. Gavaskar commented that it was "unbelievable" to leave out the Man of the Match, particularly as India already had two other spinners in the team. He added that Kuldeep, who took eight of the 20 wickets in the first Test, should have been included given the nature of the pitch in Mirpur.
Gavaskar suggested that either Ravichandran Ashwin or Axar Patel could have been dropped instead of Kuldeep. He noted that with two other spinners in the team, one of them could have been left out to make room for Kuldeep. He said, "You have got two other spinners. 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 pitch looks like."
At the toss, Rahul explained the decision to include Unadkat and omit Kuldeep. He said, "Hard decision on Kuldeep but we know Ashwin and Axar can find spin, and bring Jaydev in to cover all bases. Unfortunate decision for us to leave him (Kuldeep) out but it's an opportunity for Unadkat." This will be just the second Test appearance for Unadkat in his career; his only other appearance came almost 12 years ago, in the first Test of the 2010/11 tour of South Africa in Centurion.