‘I feel sad but…’ – Wasim Jaffer on Jaydev Unadkat’s selection over Kuldeep Yadav in 2nd Test

India and Bangladesh are facing off in the second Test that kicked off on December 22, Thursday and it was the Indian team who came out on top post crushing the Bangla Tigers to just 227 in their first innings post being forced to bowl first after losing the toss. While it was only Mominul Haque who stood for the Bangladeshi team, India, on the other hand, tasted contributions from many players. 

To add more, it was the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav and Jaydev Unadkat who made an impact with the ball as all three contributed to restricting the Shakib Al Hasan-led team to a minimal total. While Yadav and Ashwin picked up four-fors to their name, Unadkat, on the other hand, made a comeback after 12 years and racked up 2 wickets for the team. 

However, the left-armer’s selection was a controversial one as fans claimed that it was unfair to keep Kuldeep Yadav out to bring out the fiery Indian pacer. For the unversed, the wrist spinner was the Player of the Match in the first Test and was dropped for the second Test. Wasim Jaffer, the former Indian cricketer, opened up on the same and said that Unadkat made the selection justifiable with his performance. 

You do feel sad for Kuldeep Yadav: Wasim Jaffer

Jaffer showed his empathy for Kuldeep, although he claimed that the selection was justifiable as the pitch asked for it. Further, the former Indian cricketer highlighted Unadkat’s continued fantastic run in the Indian domestic circuit and added that the left-armer deserved a chance after knocking on the doors of the selectors for such a long time. 

“Well yeah, first of all I felt really really happy when he got fit for the Indian team after playing his last Test in 2010 and he worked so hard, tirelessly for Saurashtra or India A wherever he got the opportunity. He has been a domestic giant. He got the rewards for the work that he has done over a period of a decade. So really happy for him. First of all got selected, got an opportunity and he made an impact,” Jaffer was quoted as saying to ESPNCricinfo. 

“You do feel sad (for Kuldeep Yadav) because he never got a consistent run in the Indian team. But again you can’t drop Ashwin, you can’t drop Axar. You do feel sad but you know that selection looks justifiable because the pitch had a little bit of help. Little bit of up and down and then, obviously Jaydev Unadkat made an impact as well,” he added when asked about Kuldeep getting dropped.