'Not a great sign for his confidence': Harbhajan Singh on Kuldeep Yadav's omission
Story highlights
"This is also not a great sign for his confidence because it demoralizes you even further when you are a part of the squad but still can't make it to the playing XI."
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh was 'astonished' when Shabaz Nadeem was picked ahead of Kuldeep Yadav as Axar Patel was ruled out of the first Test against England.
"It was astonishing for me to see Kuldeep Yadav not get a chance in Team India's playing XI despite him being in the squad. I can understand that since Axar Patel is injured, Shahbaz Nadeem came in as a like-for-like replacement. But it doesn't make sense to play two off-spinners in Chennai," Harbhajan told Sports Tak.
Ravindra Jadeja is out of the first two Tests due to the wrist injury, whereas, Sundar was just one test old, which meant Kuldeep was the favourite to be picked. Yadav has been benched for some time now. The spinner was not picked in the Australia tour despite a string of injuries in the Indian squad. In Yadav's last Test appearance he picked up a five-wicket haul in his last Test appearance in Sydney against Australia.
"Kuldeep Yadav's presence would have added a bit of variety to this Indian bowling attack. In the last two Tests that Kuldeep Yadav played, he had picked up five-wicket hauls. So I am completely baffled by his exclusion," Harbhajan asserted.
"This is also not a great sign for his confidence because it demoralizes you even further when you are a part of the squad but still can't make it to the playing XI."
Shahbaz Nadeem managed to pick up a crucial wicket of Ben Stokes, who smashed 82 runs in 114 runs.