Former Indian spinner and commentator Ravi Ashwin has expressed his disappointment over the attacking spinner Kuldeep Yadav not getting a chance in the three-match ODI series against England, which the hosts won by 2-1.
Taking to his official X handle, Ashwin wrote that with Jasprit Bumrah missing the final ODI, it could have been a decent choice if Kuldeep had been opted as an attacking spin option in the playing XI, which could have helped him in lifting his rhythm and confidence.
“The only defense for not playing Kuldeep usually is that the batting finishes at number 7, wonder how it feels to have Arshdeep at number 8 today! Adding Bumrah’s absence to that, one can only feel bad for Kuldeep. Trust me, this can affect the rhythm and confidence of a bowler,” Ashwin posted on X.
On the other hand, another former Indian cricketer, Mohammad Kaif, also took to his official X handle to state that India’s bowling attack at Lord’s looked one-dimensional, lacking variety. He went on to insist that a left-arm spinner would have been handy.
“Kuldeep Yadav should be thinking of packing his bags and saying goodbye to international cricket. Today there was no Bumrah, no Washington, no Varun but Kuldeep still didn’t find a place in 11. India’s bowling attack at Lord’s is one dimensional and lacks variety. A left-arm wrist spinner would have come handy. Remember he has 194 wickets in 118 ODIs. It seems these numbers don’t matter,” Kaif posted on X.
Meanwhile, Gill, who attended the post-match press conference, has cited that pitches are not responsive to spinners, which was the reason behind Kuldeep being benched throughout the series. Notably, India went ahead with Axar Patel as the lone spin bowling option in the Lord’s ODI.
“So the matches that we played prior to this, we had seen the wickets were not offering that much to the spinners. Whenever spinners came into bowl, we felt that we kind of had to go into defensive, whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening. And that was the thought process behind not bringing in extra spinner,” Gill said.
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