Why is Kuldeep Yadav not playing today's IND vs BAN Test?

Team India left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav had a brilliant Test in Chattogram against Bangladesh as the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.

In what was his first red-ball game for India in nearly two years, the 28-year-old came up with an exceptional all-round performance. He scored a crucial 40 with the bat in the first innings and followed it up with career-best figures of 5/40. The left-arm spinner also claimed three wickets in the second innings and was deservedly named Player of the Match.

Kuldeep, however, was not part of the playing XI for the second Test against Bangladesh, which began at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Thursday, December 22. Looking at the grass covering on the pitch, the visitors have decided to go in with three seamers and two spinners in all-rounders Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin.

Kuldeep has been dropped in favor of left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat, who is playing in his first Test match since his debut against South Africa way back in 2010.

Speaking about the decision to leave Kuldeep out of the playing XI, Team India skipper KL Rahul said after losing the toss:

“We made one change - Kuldeep misses out and Unadkat comes in. Hard to leave out Kuldeep but Jaydev gets his opportunity today.”

Sharing his thoughts on the surface, which forced the hard decision, he opined:

“Not sure what to make of the surface. There is some grass, but it's generally good to bat here. There is generally some bounce here and some help for both pacers and spinners. We aren't sure what to expect.”

Bangladesh have won the toss and are batting first in the Dhaka Test.

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India vs Bangladesh 2nd Test playing XIs

India: KL Rahul (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj.

Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Zakir Hasan, Mominul Haque, Litton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan (c), Nurul Hasan (w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Taskin Ahmed.

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Kuldeep Yadav’s stop-start Test career

Left-arm spinner Kuldeep made his Test debut against Australia in Dharamsala in March 2017. However, he has only featured in eight Tests to date, claiming 34 wickets at an average of 21.55.

The 28-year-old returned with figures of 5/99 in the New Year Test against Australia in Sydney in 2019. But he did not play another red-ball game for India until February 2021, when he featured in the second Test against England in Chennai.

The match in Chattogram was his first Test since the above-mentioned game against England in Chennai.