“I am baffled that Kuldeep Yadav wasn’t picked” - Sunil Gavaskar slams team selection for 2nd Test vs England

Former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar was surprised not to see Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI against England for the Edgbaston Test, which started on Wednesday, July 2 in Birmingham. 

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Interestingly, Shubman Gill, after losing the toss, stated that Kuldeep was considered for the selector, but Team India looked for strengthening its lower-order batting and further went ahead with Washigton Sundar instead.

Speaking on Sony Sports Network, the former Indian top-order batter asserted that the Edgbaston surface could’ve assisted Kuldeep as the wicket is expected to offer spin and bounce in the latter stages of the Test.

"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.

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Furthermore, Gavaskar slammed at Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir for not fixing the wicket-taking department and went ahead in strengthening its lower-order batting. Interestingly, India scored 830-plus runs in the Leeds Test with five centuries being smacked. 

However, Indian bowlers couldn’t replicate their heroics in the second innings as England comfortably bagged a five-wicket win. Gavaskar slammed the Indian team management’s tactics in selecting the playing XI.

“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.

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“So, where you needed strengthening was in the wicket-taking department, not so much in the batting,” Gavaskar concluded.

At stumps on Day 1, India were at 310/5 in 85 overs. Shubman Gill is batting on 114* while Ravindra Jadeja is also unbeaten on 41.

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