Sri Lanka vs India 2017: Virat Kohli Reveals Why Axar Patel was Preferred over Kuldeep Yadav in Dambulla
Aug 24, 2017 at 10:56 AM
Expectations were high that Kuldeep Yadav would get an extended run in the Indian team after left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was rested for the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka. His performances also tilted the balance slightly on his side.
The chinaman spinner made his Test debut earlier this year against Australia in Dharamsala and made an instant impact by taking four for 68, dismissing the likes of David Warner and Glenn Maxwell. Kuldeep was not included in the team for the Champions Trophy but was a part of the team that toured West Indies last month for a limited-overs series. He impressed once again and finished the five-match ODI series as its highest wicket-taker with eight wickets.
He also impressed during the two-day warm-up game against Sri Lanka Board President’s XI, picking up four wickets before continuing his impressive show in the Test series too, taking up five wickets in the only opportunity he got during the third Test.
However, the team management decided to include Axar Patel instead of him in the playing eleven for the first ODI in Dambulla, and Virat Kohli has now revealed the reason which prompted the management to bench the 22-year-old.
The India captain, ahead of the second ODI in Pallekele, said that Axar was “favoured more than Kuldeep” due to his batting and fielding abilities.
“It was a case of having two left-arm spinners that led us not playing Kuldeep in the first game. Axar was favoured more than Kuldeep from the point of view that he bats quite well and he is a gun (great) in the field also. Kuldeep has got opportunities in the past,” he said.
Axar repaid the faith by taking three for 34 in his ten overs, as Team India took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series with a thumping nine-wicket win.
Kohli further said the team wants to test Axar and Yuzvendra who have not got many opportunities.
“(Yuzvendra) Chahal and Axar are guys who haven’t got many opportunities, so we want to test them out. It’s all about giving opportunities to people which we feel will not hamper our plans in any way and at the same time, it’s about giving them exposure at international cricket,” he said.
At the same time, Kohli made it clear that Kuldeep featured prominently in the team’s plan and said that the team could field two wrist spinners in the coming games.
“Kuldeep remains in the thick of things all the time. To have a guy like that in the team is always a boost. You might see two wrist spinners playing together if we feel that we don’t need that much depth in the batting in the coming games,” said the skipper.