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Left-arm pacer Yash Dayal earned his maiden Test call up as Team India announced their squad for the first Test against Bangladesh. The Men in Blue will square off against the Bangla Tigers in a two-match series, starting on September 19 in Chennai.
The squad saw the return of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant after a long gap, while young guns Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel returned their places. The highlight of the side was the inclusion of Uttar Pradesh-based Dayal, who is the only left-arm seamer in the team.
Yash Dayal was rewarded for his good outing in the recently concluded 2024 Duleep Trophy game between India A and India B. He picked up a total of four wickets in the game to play a role in India B successfully defending 274 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
While his inclusion is a welcome move, it comes with its own set of challenges. On that note, let's take a look at three reasons why India picking Yash Dayal is the wrong move.
#1 Lack of international experience
Yash Dayal made headlines while playing for the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He had a successful campaign in IPL 2022 but was taken to the cleaners by Rinku Singh in the next season, who hit him for five sixes in an over to chase down 29 runs. The left-arm seamer was also among the wickets in IPL 2024, picking up 15 wickets in 14 matches.
Despite rubbing shoulders with some of the best cricketers across the globe, 26-year-old Yash is yet to play any international game for India. His lack of exposure in the international arena might be a sign of worry for the Men in Blue. Moreover, he has only played 24 first class matches.
Notably, India have better options at their disposal, who have made their mark in the domestic circuit and also have international experience under their belt. Mukesh Kumar, for instance, has been a consistent performer for Bengal in the Ranji Trophy in the last few years and has played in three Tests for India.
Mukesh scalped 22 wickets in five games in the 2022-23 Ranji season, while he picked up 10 in only one match in the last edition. Moreover, he also had a good 2024 Duleep Trophy outing for India B against India A, picking up five wickets in the match.
Solely having a left-arm pacer in the squad cannot warrant Yash Dayal's selection given that there were several other top performers in the domestic circuit.
#2 Arshdeep Singh is a better fit than Yash Dayal keeping the future series in focus
Recent reports suggested that the support staff are keen on preparing left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh keeping the five-match away series against Australia in focus. He was even sent to play in the County Championship, where he enjoyed decent success for Kent.
Although he picked up only 13 wickets in five outings for Kent, he bowled more than 150 overs, which helped him prepare for the challenges of red-ball cricket at the international arena. He would add more value on Australian conditions due to his experiences of playing in England. Thus, the series against Bangladesh would have been an excellent platform for Arshdeep to get a taste of Test cricket.
On the contrary, Yash Dayal has very limited experience of playing outside India. Thus, having Arshdeep ahead of Dayal would have been a more positive move keeping the Australian series in focus.
#3 Yash Dayal being too fast-tracked into international cricket
Yash Dayal was not even counted among the hopefuls when India last played a Test match against England earlier this year.
As a result, he is being fast-tracked into the Test side based on his performance in only one Duleep Trophy match. He picked up four wickets in the match, including a three-wicket haul.
There are more proven performers in the domestic circuit, who are ahead in the pecking order than Dayal. Someone like Avesh Khan has been with the squad for a very long time and deserves a chance to get a go before the 26-year-old left-arm pacer.
