It seemed like Ravichandran Ashwin’s exit from the Indian team would have given Kuldeep Yadav a chance to get into the Test squad. But Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill have other plans.
Although they thought of playing a second spinner in the second Test against England at Edgbaston, Gill and Gambhir chose Washington Sundar over Kuldeep. When asked why Kuldeep, who is a better spinner, was ignored, Gill said it was to strengthen the batting lineup. We thought of playing Kuldeep but we added some batting depth, he said.
Earlier, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif had said it would be unfair if Kuldeep wasn’t selected.
Gautam Gambhir seems to have influenced the preference for Sundar over Kuldeep. The head coach’s fondness for the spin-bowling all-rounder is well known. It’s also known that Gambhir prefers a versatile player like Sundar over a more specialized player like Kuldeep.
Also, captain Shubman Gill said on Wednesday that India’s lead fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah will be back in the team for the third Test against England at Lord’s next week after missing the second Test in Edgbaston.
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Bumrah was rested for the second Test which started on Wednesday to manage his workload. He played in the first Test at Leeds which India lost by 5 wickets.
Since the third Test is at Lord’s we expect the pitch to offer more so we will use him there, Gill said at the toss of the second game. The third Test is scheduled to start on July 10.
The Indian team management had announced at the start of the series that Bumrah would play only three of the five Tests.
