Follow UsIndia have made as many as three changes for the second Test against England at Edgbaston, but Kuldeep Yadav was not named in the XI, which has irked former India captain Sunil Gavaskar. Moreover, he is also not pleased with the inclusion of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar.
"I'm a little baffled that Kuldeep wasn't picked, because on a pitch like this, where everybody says there's a little more turn," Gavaskar said on Sony Sports Network.
At the toss, Shubman Gill had said that Sundar and Nitish were selected to add further depth to the batting as the lower-order failed to put on many runs with the bat in the first Test. Gavaskar is, however, not pleased with that logic.
"If your top-order batters are not giving you the runs you expect, then Washington at seven or Nitish Reddy at eight won't necessarily fix that, because those weren't the batters who failed you in the first Test. You scored 830 runs. You didn't score 380 in two innings — it was 830-plus. That's a lot of runs," he said.
"So, where you needed strengthening was in the wicket-taking department, not so much in the batting."
India are also without their star pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who has been rested to manage his workload. He is expected to take part in the next Test at Lord's. India are 1-0 down in the five-match series, following their five-wicket loss at Headingley.