Kuldeep Yadav absent from practice; reports say he may miss second Sri Lanka Test

Kuldeep Yadav may be omitted from India’s second Test against Sri Lanka after he was not present at India’s practice session in Colombo on August 21 ahead of the match that begins on August 23 at the SSC Cricket Ground. Reports have suggested he could be dropped for the series decider.

India are touring Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series; the first Test began on August 15 and India won that match by 165 runs. Devdutt Padikkal returned to the Test side after almost two years and scored 211 runs across the two innings, while Manav Suthar, in just his second Test, claimed 10 wickets in the match. KL Rahul scored 117 and Ravindra Jadeja picked four wickets, with most of the dismissals in the game coming off the spinners.

Kuldeep Yadav struggled to influence the first Test on a surface that offered assistance to spinners, bowling 25 overs and taking only one wicket in the match. He finished wicketless in the second innings and his sole scalp in the first innings was taken after a one-hand stunner from Shubman Gill. Observers noted he was relatively under-bowled compared with the other spinners and did not look settled during the contest.

Revsportz journalist Subhayan Chakraborty reported that Kuldeep was not present while India practised ahead of the second Test, posting: "No Kuldeep Yadav and KL Rahul in practice pic.twitter.com/Ez6aihJgKI". The same report indicated KL Rahul was also absent from that practice session.

Selectors are reported to be considering adjustments to the playing XI, with mentions that India could strengthen their batting resources by including Saransh Jain. The source noted there were chances of changes in the Sri Lankan batting line-up that could create an opportunity for a right-arm off-spinner such as Saransh Jain in the second Test, and said this was evident from India’s August 21 practice session.

The second Test starts on August 23 at the SSC Cricket Ground, Colombo, with Shubman Gill and his teammates aiming for a clean sweep of the two-match series. A victory in the second fixture would place India in a relatively stronger position on the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 points table, and reports conclude that Kuldeep Yadav is less likely to play the match beginning August 23.