Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar is a big fan of the Indian left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. Bangar feels that the upcoming IPL season is going to be crucial for the young spinner.
In his very early age, Kuldeep Yadav has impressed with his consistent bowling performances. The left-arm chinaman made his international cricket debut in March 2017. He has played six Tests, 53 ODIs and 18 T20Is where he has taken 24, 96 and 35 wickets respectively. In his international debutant year, Kuldeep also claimed an ODI hat-trick against Australia at Eden Gardens (Kolkata).
Kuldeep Yadav is very close to becoming India’s fastest bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets. Sanjay Bangar has recently praised hugely the youngster. Bangar also reminded Kuldeep Yadav’s match-winning bowling performance during the Manchester T20I in July 2018. While the hosts England were in the fine position of 95/1, Kuldeep Yadav managed to deliver the bowling figures of 4-0-24-5 which restricted the hosts to 159/8. Later, India won that match by eight wickets, thanks to the century of KL Rahul.
Bangar recently told Star Sports, “I’m a massive Kuldeep Yadav fan and in terms of strike rates, you see he is the quickest to 100 ODI wickets and even in the shorter format, if you look at the match we won in England, he picked up five wickets at a time where the opposition was running away with the match.”
For Kuldeep Yadav, this IPL is going to be a massive factor – Sanjay Bangar
However, Kuldeep Yadav is currently facing a tough time, especially from the IPL 2019. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spinner managed to take only four wickets in IPL 2019 after playing nine games. However, KKR has retained him ahead of the forthcoming IPL players’ auction.
Bangar feels that the upcoming IPL season (IPL 2020) is going to be crucial for the 24-year-old spinner.
Bangar added, “I wouldn’t count out Kuldeep Yadav, it’s just that he’s had a couple of poor games in the IPL last season. For him, this IPL is going to be a massive factor and if he does really well, it will be very hard to keep him out.”
Ravinder Jadeja edges over Krunal Pandya
On the other hand, in the recent T20I matches, Krunal Pandya replaced the all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. However, the elder Pandya has been dropped from the upcoming home T20I series against Windies while Ravindra Jadeja has returned to the squad.
Sanjay Bangar feels that Ravindra Jadeja edges over Krunal Pandya as the experienced Indian cricketer provides more option.
Bangar said, “You require a wrist-spinner in the T20 format. It has been a very major component in India’s success, wherein two wrist-spinners (Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal) played a massive role in most of the ODI and T20I series the team has had across conditions; hence, you will need a bowler who is capable of bowling the complete four overs and also bat at No. 7.
“Hence, I feel Ravinder Jadeja edges over Krunal Pandya here as Krunal hasn’t been able to deliver the complete four overs at times and Jadeja has been in great form recently.”