The Indian team management has made it clear that they are looking at a proper plan for chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav who is expected to play a bigger role for the national team in all three formats of the game in the near future.
The very first Indian chinaman bowler has impressed one and all with his limited opportunities in the national team but with the presence of more experienced campaigners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, he hasn’t been able to break into the XI on a consistent basis.
However, with both Ashwin and Jadeja rested for the limited overs series against Sri Lanka, Kuldeep is expected to lead the spin attack.
Team India coach Ravi Shastri, captain Virat Kohli and Chairman of Selectors MSK Prasad, however, emphasised on treating Kuldeep with a lot of care and there is hardly any doubt on the fact that Kuldeep is there in India’s scheme of things for the 2019 World Cup.
“We have a keen eye on both short and long term objectives. We cannot ignore the forthcoming home cycle wherein India will play Australia and New Zealand in limited- overs’ cricket and we also have to build for England in 2019,” Prasad told media persons on Monday.
“We wanted to start this process with the limited-overs’ tour to West Indies’ itself, but we couldn’t do it because of the short change-around time after the Champions Trophy. We had to send the same team to the Caribbean as we did to England,” the chairman of selectors further added.
While India is scheduled to play another set of matches in the home season, their long and gruelling away season will commence with the tour of South Africa in early 2018.
“We also have to consider Test cricket and India have three tough challenges in South Africa, England and Australia in 2018. We have to prepare for all formats simultaneously, and in hindsight, this county stint for our senior bowlers opens a great window of opportunity for us,” Prasad added.
Kohli had a word of caution for Kuldeep and asked him to concentrate on hard work in order to maintain consistency and fitness level in the international circuit.
“Kuldeep will have to keep working hard on his game. He is a great talent, we know that, but to keep that fitness and form going, he has to keep working hard. He has the desire to do so. We have faith in him, and he has delivered every time he has played. So it is a great sign for him,” said Kohli.
Even in the past, Indian skipper had same words for his IPL teammate, Sarfaraz Khan. The Uttar Pradesh-born batsman had a decent run but was soon removed from the setup because of his fitness issues and we have not seen him play another game since then.