Despite having a formidable record in all three formats, Kuldeep Yadav hasn’t been backed enough by the captain and the coach as he has been moved down in the pecking order among spinners, believes his childhood coach Kapil Dev Pandey.
The past couple of years hasn’t been great for Kuldeep Yadav after having a great run earlier in all formats. When he picked a fifer at Sydney in 2019, coach Ravi Shastri announced that he would be the first choice spinner for India in all overseas Tests. He is the only Indian bowler to take two ODI hat-tricks and his T20I record isn’t bad either with 41 wickets in 23 games with an economy of 7.15.
However, things have gone south for him in the last year or so. He looked like the front runner to play in Gabba Test 2021, but team management preferred to hand a Test debut to Washington Sundar. Even in the home series against England Shahbaz Nadeem got the preference ahead of him in the first Test at Chennai.
Even in the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka in July, he didn’t do enough to get the attention of selectors.
However his childhood coach believes otherwise, “Ashwin and Jadeja are really good but even when Kuldeep was performing well, he didn’t get a chance. He was sidelined because of some liking/disliking issues with the captain and coach at that time, I guess. Even before the injury, he was dropped from the national side.”
“Some say that his form was an issue but tell me, how many opportunities did he get? He was taking wickets. You can’t expect six wickets in six balls. It seems he was actually not in the good books of coach and captain and that was the only reason he missed it.” The coach told IANS.
Kuldeep Yadav was the leading wicket-taker in the last ODI series in South Africa
It’s not just Team India, he was sidelined for his IPL franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders as well where Varun Chakravarthy has been preferred over him throughout the season. He wasn’t even considered in rank turners at Chennai in the first half of the IPL. He missed out UAE leg of IPL 2021 due to his knee surgery.
“I had a word with him, as he is recovering well and I told him to focus on the future and forget the past. I believe the new coach and captain will give him a chance to prove his mettle once again. He is a world-class spinner and needs to be in national colours soon.” he said.
Currently, Kuldeep Yadav has been going through injury rehab at NCA, Bengaluru. Indian squad for the ODI series in South Africa will be announced soon. If fit, Kuldeep might get an opportunity. In the last South Africa tour 2017-18 he was the leading wicket-taker when India won their first ODI series in the rainbow nation.
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