Congress MP and cricket enthusiast Shashi Tharoor took to X to sharply criticise the decision to leave out India’s top spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, from the playing XI in the ongoing ODI match against Australia in Adelaide.

Notably, the chinaman spinner was alos omitted from the lineup for the Perth ODI.

Expressing his disappointment over the exclusion of Kuldeep, Tharoor stated on X:

“So Xavier Bartlett took just four balls to show the Indian selectors the idiocy of their decision to leave out the most potent match-winner in their squad, in favour of a journeyman pacer like Rana. It was wrong to omit Kuldeep in England, and it is absurd not to pick him in Adelaide. Awful!”

Meanwhile, in the match underway, Australia finally broke through India’s resistance in the second ODI at Adelaide Oval, with spinner Adam Zampa dismissing Shreyas Iyer for 61. Iyer’s wicket followed pacer Mitchell Starc removing Rohit Sharma, who scored 73. The two had earlier stitched together a crucial 118-run partnership that steadied India’s innings. With four wickets down, KL Rahul and Axar Patel are now at the crease as India looks to post a competitive total against Australia.