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The 1st Test match between India and England is being played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. England won the toss and elected to bat first as it is anticipated that the wicket will start to turn as the game progresses. The captain of India, Rohit Sharma, added that his team would have also chosen to bat first.
After the toss, Indian captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that left-arm unorthodox spinner Kuldeep Yadav misses out to be the part of the playing XI for the Test match.
Indian team has taken all-rounder Axar Patel instead of Kuldeep Yadav. India now has three spinners in the Playing XI, including Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Rohit stated that it was a tough call during the toss. For the 1st Test game, both the teams are playing with three spinners. England has picked one debutant Tom Hartley and Reham Ahmed who is just playing his 2nd Test match along with experienced Jack Leach.
On Wednesday, in the pre-match conference, Rohit Sharma stated Axar Patel’s all-round ability as he provides batting depth to the squad. Also, the consistency shown by him in Test cricket for India is an important factor for us. Against England in 2021 Axar Patel took most of the wickets as the English players were unable to read his deliveries was turning which cost them to lose their wickets. Axar Patel also played an important role against Australia in 2023 but this time with the bat he stepped up and made sure that India won the series by 2-1.
Kuldeep Yadav last played a Test for India in 2022 against Bangladesh. As he picked eight wickets India went on to win the Test series. The lethal duo of Ashwin and Jadeja is still helping India and has kept Kuldeep Yada’s chance on hold. Till now Kuldeep has played only eight Tests for India and taken 34 wickets with an average of 21.56. In 2019 he got to play only three Test games for the Indian team.
Unfair for kuldeep 😡😡😡
— suraj prajapati (@surajpr17851617) January 25, 2024
Kuldeep Yadav In India In Test:
-2/25
-0/16
-1/45
-3/85
-5/57
-1/62
-0/23
-4/68Kuldeep Yadav Not Playing In The First Test Against England!!#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/RUhQ9qFFTt
— Cartoon Cricket Council (@cccseries) January 25, 2024
India is playing with 3 off spinners Jadeja,Axar & Ashwin but they would not play 1 proper leg spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Weird selection always#INDvsENG #TestCricket #BenStokes
— CricNation.TV (@CricNation_TV) January 25, 2024
Strange not to see Kuldeep here.
Why we need another Spin all rounder as Axar at no 9 when we have already Jaddu and Ashwin.#TeamIndia should include a wrist Spinner as Kuldeep.@BCCI @ImRo45 @Jaspritbumrah93— निष्कर्ष (Nishh) (@Nishkarsh1108) January 25, 2024
Ok as we are batting second so Axar is ok over Kuldeep 👍 https://t.co/8dNbyRpsT2
— Hank Anna (@Hanky_bb) January 25, 2024
https://twitter.com/usernotfound839/status/1750362083361993058
Why not Kuldeep? Usse bhi chance milna chahiye why always prefer axar over kuldeep
Hopefully kuldeep will play 2nd test . Sad for kuldeep yar 😢😢😢— suraj prajapati (@surajpr17851617) January 25, 2024
