'Waah re selection' - Fans fume as Kuldeep Yadav gets benched in second Test against Bangladesh

Kuldeep Yadav (Source; Twitter)

Kuldeep Yadav first burst onto the scene and played in the Under 19 World Cup in 2014. There was a graphic on TV which said "What he bowls in India, no one can”. There was a lot of buzz and mystery about him considering he was a left-arm wrist-spinner and that there had been very few cricketers who had bowled this craft for India.

Kuldeep made giant strides from there as he picked up an Indian T20 League contract with the Kolkata side and then went on to become one of the lead spinners in ODIs and T20s until the 2019 World Cup because of his ability to spin the ball both ways. He has picked up two hat tricks in ODI cricket and also has had a short but impactful Test career.

It was natural that when he was benched from the second Test against Bangladesh, there were a lot of eyebrows raised considering he was the most impactful bowler for India in the last Test match at Chattogram. He picked up 8 wickets in the game and the Bangladesh batters had struggled to play him.

He has played eight Test matches so far but he has picked up 34 wickets. This proves that he has had very impactful performances whenever he has played for India and it could be assumed that Kuldeep was the one going to be benched once they saw a bit of green on the pitch.

India went with the notion that they needed an extra pacer because of how they read the surface at Dhaka and thus Kuldeep faced the axe even though he had a superb showing with both bat and ball in the last Test that he played. He also has a five-wicket haul in Test cricket in Australia.

The left-arm wrist-spinner has been hard done by with selection but it will make him a tougher person. 2019 was a very testing year for him but he came back with stunning performances in the India A series where he picked up a hat trick against New Zealand and also had a good ODI series against South Africa where he picked up 6 wickets in three games.

Twitter was abuzz, let us take a look at the reactions here -

team selection nowdays: kuldeep yadav last match me mom tha ise hata dete hai team se. #indvsban #kuldeepyadav

— vishnu soni (@vishnu89_soni) December 22, 2022

This is a joke, you can't just play passing the chair with the players, play them one match and then drop them on the next one. I don't understand this. #KuldeepYadav #INDvsBAN https://t.co/dpkUe1sxhx

— Priyanka Hemanti Bhatt (@iPriyankaBhatt) December 22, 2022

My man Kuldeep Yadav scored 40 runs and picked up 8 wickets to win the man of the match only to get dropped the very next match. Heard Kuldeep is planning to keep wickets too for his next comeback.

— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) December 22, 2022

Kuldeep Yadav :( pic.twitter.com/IPgLDyj6uF

— Raja Babu (@GaurangBhardwa1) December 22, 2022

Justice for Kuldeep Yadav pic.twitter.com/2OjzleiBWE

— Shivani (@meme_ki_diwani) December 22, 2022

This Indian team management needs to explain the reason behind dropping Kuldeep Yadav. Player of the match in the last match, all-round show, yet dropped from the side. Not fair.#BANvIND

— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) December 22, 2022

Kuldeep Yadav is dropped after taking 8 wickets, scoring valuable 40 runs and winning the Man of the match award in last match 😂

— R A T N I S H (@LoyalSachinFan) December 22, 2022

Kuldeep Yadav - the Player of the Match from Chattogram - isn't featuring in the XI. Triple centurion was dropped from the next Test. Taking hard calls isn't easy but not impossible. Performances > Personnel. Kuldeep looked in rhythm & deserved a consistent run

— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) December 22, 2022

Kuldeep Yadav took 8 wickets and scored 40 runs with the Man Of The Match award, but droped in the very next match. Indian selection has been brainless.#INDvBAN #BANvIND #kuldeepyadav pic.twitter.com/8XzXxP6V2H

— Shivam Jaiswal 🦁💛 (@7jaiswalshivam) December 22, 2022

Very disappointed with the handling of Kuldeep Yadav in the second innings Whoever thought on those lines of using him,leaves a lot to be desired. How will you develop spinners????

— Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (@LaxmanSivarama1) December 18, 2022