T20 World Cup: India Drop In-Form Star vs Ireland. Sunil Gavaskar 'Surprised', Internet Shocked

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar echoed the sentiments of many on social media when he found out that Kuldeep Yadav had been left out of the India playing XI in their first 2024 T20 World Cup match against Ireland. Gavaskar said that he was surprised by the decision. Thus far, the chinaman had been speculated as a nailed-on starter for Team India in the 2024 T20 World Cup. However, Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid had chosen to go with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel as the two regular spinners.

Kuldeep Yadav in T20I cricket -

35 Matches
59 Wickets
14.1 Average
6.75 Economy Rate
12.54 Strike Rate
2 Five Wicket Haul once against England in England and the other in South Africa in South Africa.

He didn't start for India in the T20 World Cup 2024 First Match* pic.twitter.com/yXXx07mz3n

"I'm surprised. Kuldeep bowled really well in the IPL. His exclusion came as a little surprise. Apart from that this looks like a solid team," said Gavaskar, appearing on the pre-match coverage on Star Sports. Kuldeep picked up 16 wickets from 11 games for Delhi Capitals in the recently-concluded IPL 2024.

No Kuldeep? #INDvIRE #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/6UfVA2h5vu

Kuldeep Yadav dropped today by Team India
Axar Patel given chance to prolong batting line up vs Ireland
pic.twitter.com/Nomt6WYZqG

All three frontline seamers - Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Siraj - were chosen for the game. Rohit implied that the decision had been made after learnings from the warm-up game, which was played on the same ground, at New York's Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.

"We played on a similar pitch and do know what to expect a little bit. I know it's going to be slightly different from what we're used to," said Rohit at the toss.

Kuldeep had