IND vs BAN: 'No regrets,' says KL Rahul on Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion from 2nd Test against Bangladesh

Team India won the Test series 2-0 against Bangladesh on Sunday (December 25). The biggest talking point when the playing eleven of the second Test were announced that left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was dropped after his heroic performance in the first match. Kuldeep was influential in India's 188-run win over Bangladesh in the Chattogram Test but was dropped in the second game to make room for an extra pacer in the side, Jaydev Unadkat. Stand-in skipper KL Rahul on Sunday admitted that India missed the services of left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the second innings but said he has "no regret" about leaving him out of the final Test against Bangladesh.

Fresh from his match-winning show in India's 188-run win in the Chattogram Test, Kuldeep was benched for an extra seamer in Jaydev Unadkat, a decision which was slammed by the likes of Sunil Gavaskar.

"I don't regret the decision. It was a right decision. If you look at the wickets, our fast bowlers too have taken many wickets and they had a lot of assistance. There was a lot of inconsistent bounce," Rahul said defending his decision at the post-match media interaction.

Struggling at 74 for 7 while chasing a tricky 145 on a difficult fourth day track, India survived a scare as Ravichandran Ashwin and Shreyas Iyer pulled off an incredible three-wicket chase with an unbroken eighth wicket partnership of 71 runs.

"We took the decision keeping in mind our experience of playing here in the ODIs. We saw there's assistance for both spin and bounce. It was to have a balanced side and I think it was a right call," he added.

Kuldeep had made a spectacular comeback after 22 months, returning with a match-haul of eight wickets and also scored a valiant 40 in a crucial lower-order partnership with Ashwin. He was also adjudged the man-of-the-match in their opening Test at Chattogram.

"It was really a tough call, knowing that he won us the last Test. But seeing the pitch a day before the game, we felt that there would be assistance for both fast bowlers and seamers and keeping that in mind we wanted to play the best and balanced team that we can," Rahul said.

The team felt Kuldeep's absence especially in Bangladesh's second essay when India with a crucial first innings lead of 87 runs struggled to bowl out the home side. Bangladesh were 70 for 4 but went on to make 231. On hindsight, Rahul said he would have loved to have Kuldeep bowl in the second innings if he had the option of the 'Impact Player' rule that would make its debut in next year's IPL.

"Ideally, if the Impact Player rule was there -- like in the IPL -- I would have definitely loved to bring Kuldeep in the second innings," Rahul said.

The Impact Player of 'Super Sub' rule, which made its debut in the Big Bash 2020 and was also seen in the Syed Mushtaq Ali domestic T20s this season, means each team can make one substitution in the course of a match.

Each team will submit four substitutes at the toss and any one of them can come in as 'Impact Player'. The two-Test series proved to be disastrous for Rahul (57 runs, average: 14.25) and Virat Kohli (45 runs; 15.00) but the stand-in skipper blamed it on the quick transition from white ball to red ball cricket. (With PTI inputs)