‘If there was Impact Player rule in Tests, would have..’: KL Rahul speaks on dropping Kuldeep Yadav from 2nd Test

Kuldeep Yadav delivered a match-winning performance against Bangladesh in the series opener last week in Chattogram. Not only did he finish with eight wickets, including a record fi-fer in his maiden Test appearance in 22 months, but he also batted valiantly for 40 runs in India’s 188-run victory. Experts and fans were surprised, however, when India skipper KL Rahul withdrew Kuldeep for the second Test at Mirpur. Rahul disclosed the reason behind his call after winning.

After the Chattogram Test, India was not anticipated to modify its winning combination. However, following the toss, Rahul confirmed that Kuldeep had been omitted from the XI to make room for fast bowler Jaydev Unadkat, who made his first Test appearance for India in 12 years, having last played in the Centurion Test against South Africa in 2010.

With the spinners picking up 12 of the seven wickets in the second innings, the decision to drop Kuldeep was heavily criticized by seasoned cricketers and analysts.

Speaking to the press after the Mirpur game, Rahul 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,” he explained.

Team India were in trouble at 74/7, chasing a target of 145 runs to win the second Test, when Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin collaborated for an unbroken 71-run stand to lead their side to a three-wicket victory.

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