India’s stand-in captain KL Rahul was a happy man after the team won the second Test in Mirpur Dhaka by 3 wickets in a tightly fought contest and pocketed the series 2-0. However, the win was not without its questions and the exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav from this encounter was a huge controversy.
Kuldeep was the Player of the Match in the first Test win in Chattogram with 8 wickets including a fifer and 40 important runs with the bat in the first innings.
And while Bangladesh went in with three spinners in the second Test match, KL Rahul and co. decided to go with an extra seamer in Jaydev Unadkat and Kuldeep got the short end of the stick and was left out of the playing XI.
This led to several former cricketers and experts questioning the decision, especially after the Bangladeshi spinners got their team the upper hand and then in the second innings wreaked havoc on Indian batters in the chase of 145 runs.
Speaking to the press after the Mirpur game, Rahul admitted having missed Kuldeep in the second innings but explained the that decision was taken after their assessment of the pitch on Day 1.
He said: “Ideally, the impact player rule that has been introduced in IPL, had that been in Test matches as well, I would have definitely brought back Kuldeep Yadav in the second innings. It was a tough call given that in the last match he won us the game against Bangladesh. He was the Man of the Match.
But what we felt after seeing the pitch the first day, we though there would be assistance for both fast bowlers and spinners and with that we wanted to play the best-balanced team possible. That is a call we made and I don't regret the decision. If you notice, the fast bowlers took a lot of wickets. There was assistance for the fast bowlers and lot of inconsistent bounce. And we took this decision from our experience of playing in the one-days.”
On the other hand, KL Rahul was all praises for Shreyas Iyer who had been very good with the bat in this series. He made 87 and 29* in this Test and scored 86 in the first Test as well.
"When someone is performing consistently for you, it is very heartening. He [Shreyas Iyer] has been around for a long time and has had to wait for his opportunities and really happy to see that when has had those opportunities, he has grabbed them with both hands,” Rahul added.
His most crucial effort of the series though came on the fourth morning. At a time when Bangladesh spinners were wreaking havoc, Iyer calmed the nerves in the Indian dressing room and calmly led the way alongside Ashwin.
"He is doing the job for the team and the way he played today was phenomenal. He made it look really easy. There was pressure and there was a bit of panic in the dressing room. But it didn't look like there was any panic when we were watching Shreyas bat," Rahul said. "With Ashwin, he had a really good partnership. He has played really well in the last 15 months to two years. He has done really well for us and then he had the injury and went away for a bit. He had to really wait for his turn again and has been really patient. His journey hasn't been easy. The way he is batting is phenomenal,” Rahul said about Shreyas.
Rahul praised the Bangladesh team for their resilience throughout the tour.
"Even the Test series, it was hard fought. Bangladesh really played some very, very good cricket. They challenged us a lot. Even today, the best way to end the series. They made it really hard and they were in the game for the first 30-32 overs and then Ashwin and Shreyas put their hands up and did the job for us. It's been a brilliant tour," Rahul opined.
(Hindustan Times/Cricbuzz inputs)
