File photo of Kuldeep Yadav.
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan criticised Team India's call to not to play left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav for the opening Test match of India-England series in Chennai, calling it a 'ridiculous decision' from India.
For the opening Test, skipper Virat Kohli opted to play Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Nadeem and Ravichandran Ashwin for the Test after Nadeem and Rahul Chahar were added late to the squad in place of injured Axar Patel.
Prior to the Test, England's weakness against left-arm spinners was much discussed, making Kuldeep a genuine contender for starting XI. And that explains why Vaughan seemed surprised when the Indian team decided to field Nadeem instead of Kuldeep for the game.
"Ridiculous decision by #India not to play @imkuldeep18!!! If he isn't going to play at home with the injuries they have when is he going to play !!! #INDvENG," Vaughan tweeted.
The decision did came to haunt Kohli and Co. as out of the three wickets that fell on the day, only one was picked by spinner as England put 263/3 at the end of the day's play.
While Ashwin picked the opening wicket of the day, he gave away 68 runs in 24 overs he bowled. Washington and Nadeem had a pedestrian outing with the latter giving away 69 runs in 20 overs. Washington was the most ineffective of the lot as his 12 overs saw him concede 55 runs with no maidens to his name.
