‘We knew that…’ – Indian pacer on electing Jaydev Unadkat over Kuldeep Yadav against Bangladesh

Many people were astonished by the decision to leave last match’s hero Kuldeep Yadav out of India’s playing XI for the second Test match against Bangladesh. Still, experienced bowler Umesh Yadav explained on Thursday that it was a “management call,” something every cricketer has to deal with. Kuldeep, a left-arm wrist spinner, was named player of the match in India’s 188-run victory over Bangladesh in the first Test.

In addition to returning with a match-high eight wickets, Kuldeep also contributed 40 runs to the visiting team’s first innings. But to everyone’s surprise, Kuldeep was overlooked for the second and final Test here because the team led by Rahul Dravid elected to play Jaydev Unadkat as a third bowler.

“It’s part of your journey. It happened to me also. Sometimes you are out of the team because of performance; sometimes it’s a management’s call. You have to go with the team’s requirements. It’s good for him (Kuldeep) that he came back and performed well (in the first Test in Chattogram)” Umesh told reporters after the end of the first day’s play.

I was with him in South Africa: Umesh Yadav

In place of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh led the pace attack and registered his return with a spell of 15-4-25-4. Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin added four more wickets to his total of 21.5-3-71-4 to help bowl Bangladesh out for a meagre 227. During the first day’s stumps, India’s reply score was 19 for no loss.

Unadkat, a left-arm speedster making his International comeback after more than a decade, proved his selection by ejecting centurion Zakir Hasan from the previous match with a delivery that came back into the southpaw.

“When he (Unadkat) made his debut I was with him in South Africa. So, I’m very happy for him that he finally got his chance. He has performed well in the domestic season,” said Umesh.

“When he came into bowl with the new ball, the ball was doing a bit, many balls took the nick of batter’s gloves,” he said of Unadkat who returned with day’s figures of 2/50.

“We knew that Unadkat is used to bowl on these types of wickets and can swing it both ways. So he just had to keep bowling in the right areas and test the batters’ patience,” he concluded