IND vs BAN: 'Play Ranji..they won't do politics' - Shardul Thakur likes controversial tweet after being benched

Team India all-rounder Shardul Thakur caused a stir on social media after liking a fan's tweet who advised him to play Ranji Trophy instead after the 31-year-old was not selected in India's playing XI for the two-match Test series against Bangladesh. 

While the KL Rahul-led unit won the first Test by 188 runs, they smashed 314 runs in reply to Bangladesh's 227 runs scored in the first innings, and currently lead by 80 runs ahead of Day 3 in the ongoing 2nd Test in Dhaka. 

The pitches in the neighbouring country have assisted spinners so far, with Kuldeep Yadav picking up 8 wickets in the first Test in Chattogram but he was still benched for the second Test, in favour of Jaydev Unadkat. 

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Fans subsequently bashed the call to bench Kuldeep who won the man of the match in the previous match, and Shardul too seems upset by not featuring in any of the two Tests as he recently liked a controversial tweet by a fan. 

The all-rounder liked a tweet from a Twitter user who stated that Shardul should have played in Ranji instead, with 'politics' hindering his inclusion in playing XI. 

Earlier, he had also liked another tweet which stated that the Indian team's playing XI was influenced by Twitter trends. 

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While Shardul has been in and out of the side in white-ball cricket, he featured in Tests heavily in recent years but was surprisingly benched against Bangladesh. 

Meanwhile, talking about the ongoing 2nd Test, Shakib Al Hasan won the toss and chose to bat first after which the hosts recorded a 227-run total on the board, before getting all out on Day 1 itself. Team India didn't lose any wickets on the first day but lost 3 early wickets in their chase on the first session of Day 2 itself. 

Rishabh Pant subsequently scored 93 runs, while he also stitched together a crucial partnership with Shreyas Iyer who added 87 runs, to help India reach 314 runs before they were all out. The home side ended with 7/0 as they trailed India by 80 runs at stumps on Day 2. 

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