Kuldeep Yadav has requested that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) release him from the squad for his wedding later this month.
According to a report in the Times of India, the premier spinner was forced to cancel the festivities earlier this year after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 finished later than the scheduled date due to cross-border tension between India and Pakistan.
According to the report, Kuldeep requested some leaves for the last week of November. India are slated to take on South Africa in the second Test in Guwahati from November 22, while the three-match series between the two teams is scheduled to begin on November 30 in Ranchi.
The team management is yet to take the final call on Kuldeep’s request, and he will only be granted leave once the think tank assesses how and when they’ll need his services.
“Kuldeep’s wedding is planned for the last week of Nov. The team management will assess when they will need his services before granting him the exact number of leaves,” a BCCI source said,” the Times of India quoted a BCCI source as saying.
On the eve of the first Test between India and South Africa, there was a debate over Kuldeep’s place in the playing XI; however, the management opted to stick with the left-armer as the hosts fielded four spinners in the lineup – Kuldeep, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel.
Earlier this month, the Indian management released Kuldeep from the T20I squad in Australia to prepare for the South Africa Tests by playing for India ‘A’ against South Africa ‘A’ in Bengaluru.
Kuldeep did not have a good outing against South Africa A, managing to pick just one wicket.
South Africa opt to bat
In the Kolkata Test against India, South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton put on 57 runs for the opening wicket before the stand was broken by Jasprit Bumrah.
Bumrah dismissed the openers Markram (31) and Rickelton (23), and then Kuldeep got into the action as he got the better of Temba Bavuma (3) and Wiaan Mulder (24).
India made two changes to their playing XI from the previous Test, bringing in Rishabh Pant and Axar in place of Nitish Kumar Reddy and Sai Sudharsan.
On the other hand, Kagiso Rabada was unavailable for the Proteas due to a rib injury and the visitors included Corbin Bosch in his place.