Sunil Gavaskar lashes out over Kuldeep Yadav omission, calls out Gautam Gambhir’s mistake: ‘Nitish Reddy and Sundar won’t solve the problem’

When the Indian team management, under the leadership of head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill, chose not to include Kuldeep Yadav for the second Test match against England in Birmingham, former captain Sunil Gavaskar was clearly irritated.

Many experts argued strongly for Kuldeep's inclusion, citing India's urgent need for a wicket-taking bowler after the pacers struggled in the first Test at Leeds and raising doubts about Jasprit Bumrah's availability for the match. However, Kuldeep was once again disregarded by India, leaving Gavaskar perplexed.

Speaking to Sony Sports Network, Gavaskar said, “I’m a little baffled that Kuldeep wasn’t picked, especially on a pitch where everyone expects more turn.”

Instead, India added a second spinner by bringing in Washington Sundar in place of Shardul Thakur. According to captain Gill, this change was made to strengthen the lower order’s batting, which had faltered in Leeds and contributed to a five-wicket defeat in the series opener. To balance the lineup further and cover for Bumrah’s absence, India also included fast-bowling all-rounder Nitish Reddy, which meant Sai Sudharsan was left out.

Gavaskar didn’t hold back in criticizing these decisions. He argued that batting wasn’t the problem—India had scored over 800 runs in two innings at Leeds—and what they really needed was more bowlers who could take wickets.

He said, “If your top-order batsmen aren’t delivering, adding Washington at seven or Nitish Reddy at eight won’t fix that because those weren’t the batsmen who failed you in the first Test. You scored 830 runs in two innings—that’s a lot of runs. So the area that needed strengthening was bowling, not batting.”

England, leading the series 1-0, won the toss and chose to bowl at Edgbaston.