Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat will play just his second Test match of his career after a gap of more than 12 years. Unadkat’s wait for a return to the Test side is the second-longest in Indian cricket history after the Late Lala Amarnath.
Unadkat will be playing his second Test after a gap of 12 years and 2 days while Lala Amarnath had to wait for 12 years and 129 days, which included World War 2.
Stand-in Indian captain KL Rahul explained that Jaydev Unadkat was brought in to shockingly replace Kuldeep Yadav, who picked up a five-wicket haul in the last Test to ‘cover all bases’. “We have Jaydev Unadkat come in for Kuldeep Yadav. Hard decision on Kuldeep but we know Ashwin and Axar can find spin, and bring Jaydev in to cover all bases,” Rahul said at the toss on Thursday (December 22).
Unadkat made his debut for India as 19-year-old against South Africa in Centurion back in 2010 under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. The left-arm pacer failed to pick up a single wicket in that Test. After that he has played in 7 ODIs and 10 T20I games for India.
In first-class cricket, Unadkat has picked up 353 wickets from 96 games at an excellent average of 23.04. He has also led Saurashtra to the Ranji Trophy title in the past and Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022 crown this year.
However, Uttar Pradesh chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav must be bitterly disappointed after a brilliant performance with both bat and ball in India’s 188-run win in the first Test in Chattogram.
I heard that this Dhaka Pitch suits spinners more than Fast Bowlers!
— ANUJ SHARMA ___(Get Well Soon Rohit) (@Anujj_Sharmaa) December 22, 2022
But India decided to drop Kuldeep Yadav for absolutely no reason!
What is happening ___
Something Fishy _!.#BANvIND#KLRahul#kuldeepyadav
This @BCCI does not respect performers these days. Very sad state to be in. I am starting to doubt the leadership now. #kuldeepyadav#INDvBAN
— Roshan Chhetri (@riddhipapa) December 22, 2022
Team India discussing their XI#kuldeepyadav #INDvsBAN pic.twitter.com/Z0v4pwJpne
— The LW Doctor (@SachabhartiyaRW) December 22, 2022
“It does seem damp and we need to get early wickets. 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,” said KL Rahul at toss.
India Playing XI: KL Rahul (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj
Bangladesh Playing XI: Najmul Hossain Shanto, Zakir Hasan, Mominul Haque, Litton Das, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan(c), Nurul Hasan(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed and Taskin Ahmed.
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