Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has expressed confusion over India’s decision to leave out spinner Kuldeep Yadav for the second Test against England at Edgbaston. With India trailing 0-1 in the five-match series, Gavaskar believes the bigger concern after the Headingley defeat was the lack of wicket-taking options, not the depth in the batting lineup.

India’s selection for the second Test raised eyebrows as they chose to rest Jasprit Bumrah for workload management and also kept Kuldeep on the bench, despite expectations of a turning track at Edgbaston.

Speaking on Sony Sports Network, Sunil Gavaskar said, “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, you need attacking options.”

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He further pointed out that India’s batters had done their job in the first Test. “You scored 830-plus runs across both innings. That’s not where the problem was. So, picking Washington Sundar at 7 or Nitish Reddy at 8 doesn’t solve much, especially when your top-order batters are the ones scoring runs. The priority should have been strengthening the bowling unit.”

While the selection debate raged on, Yashasvi Jaiswal once again showed why he’s considered India’s next batting star. The young opener hammered a fluent 62* off 69 balls before lunch on Day 1, hitting 11 boundaries and racing to his 11th Test fifty with a cut shot off Josh Tongue.

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India reached 98/2 at the lunch break. Karun Nair partnered Jaiswal in an 80-run stand before falling to Brydon Carse just before the interval. Carse got one to rise unexpectedly, forcing Nair to edge a catch to second slip. Earlier, KL Rahul was dismissed cheaply, playing on to a Chris Woakes delivery for just two.