Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has expressed his shock over Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion from India’s playing XI for the second Test against Bangladesh, which got underway in Dhaka on Thursday (December 22).

The wrist-spinner was adjudged Player-of-the-Match for his eight wickets in India’s comprehensive 188-run victory over Bangladesh in the series opener in Chattogram.

For the second Test, however, India preferred to go with three fast bowlers and two spinners. As a result, left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat replaced Kuldeep in India’s XI while R Ashwin and Akshar Patel retained their place in the team as premier spinners.

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“Dropping a Man of the Match, that is unbelievable. That’s the only word I can use and it’s a gentle word. I would like to use quite stronger words, but it’s unbelievable that you left out a man of the match, who got eight out of the 20 wickets,” Gavaskar was quoted as saying to Sony Sports Network.

“You have got two other spinners. So surely, one of the other spinners could have been dropped. But this guy, who took eight wickets should have played today with due respect to what the pitch looks like,” he added.

In the opening Test, Kuldeep Yadav had bagged a five-wicket haul in Bangladesh’s first innings and followed it up with three scalps in the second essay.

Speaking at the toss, India’s stand-in skipper KL Rahul said it’s an unfortunate decision to leave Kuldeep out for Unadkat, who made his return to Test cricket after more than a decade.

“We made one change - Kuldeep misses out and Unadkat comes in. Unfortunate decision for us to leave him (Kuldeep) out but it's an opportunity for Unadkat,” Rahul quoted.