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Team India’s left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was taken aback by a bizarre query at the press conference following the third day’s play in the Chattogram Test against Bangladesh.
Despite India being in a completely dominant position, the 28-year-old was asked about Bangladesh’s chances of winning the Test, to which he replied that he personally wouldn’t want the hosts to win.
India are in complete control of the first Test against Bangladesh. After putting up a first-innings total of 404, the visitors bowled out the Bangla Tigers for a paltry 150. The Indians then declared their second innings at 258/2, setting the hosts a mammoth target of 513.
Bangladesh went to stumps on Day 3 at 42/0, needing a further 471 runs for an improbable victory. In a media interaction following the day’s play, Kuldeep was asked whether he felt Bangladesh could still win the Test. The somewhat stunned cricketer replied:
“I personally don’t want that (Bangladesh to win). But it’s a sport. If someone gets 300, then probably… We’ll try to bowl them out as early as possible. That’s our main goal for tomorrow.”
Kuldeep was also probed about India’s decision to not enforce the follow on, despite promising to play aggressive cricket in the build-up to the Test. Defending India's move to bat for more than 60 overs in the second innings, the 28-year-old asserted:
“We still have two days to go. We have plenty of time in the Test match - 180 overs to go. There is a lot of time. We are not too worried. Bowlers have a good chance to defend the score. You can’t predict anything. Sometimes a target of 400 might look very easy. We just wanted to bat till drinks after tea and give them 15 overs.”
After centuries from Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara, India declared their second innings with a lead of 512. Bangladesh's openers played out 12 overs without much trouble.
“Perfect wicket to bat on” - Kuldeep Yadav
While Pujara and Mohammed Siraj stated in earlier press conferences that the Chattogram wicket was not easy to bat on, Kuldeep offered a contradictory view.
He described the surface as the perfect one for batting, with just the odd ball turning. He opined
“I believe it was a perfect wicket to bat on. I batted for 20 overs and it was really good to bat against spinners as well. It’s just keeping low sometimes and the odd ball is turning a bit.
"I think the wicket has remained the same. Probably on Day 4, there will be more turn for the spinners. We are hoping to get more turn in the second innings compared to first.”
Kuldeep claimed 5/40 in Bangladesh’s first innings, playing in his first Test since February 2021. Earlier, he also contributed 40 with the bat, featuring in an eighth-wicket stand of 92 with Ravichandran Ashwin.
