As veteran official Ravichandran Ashwin failed to make an ODI comeback in the ongoing three-match series against South Africa, calls for young spinner Kuldeep Yadav to be brought back in the Indian white-ball squad gained momentum among cricket fanatics. has taken.
Ashwin was rested for the third ODI in Cape Town and was replaced by Jayant Yadav but he too failed to pick up any wickets and ended up with bowling figures of 10-0-53-0. Recalling the way ‘Kulcha’ (Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal) dominated the ODI series against South Africa in 2018, the commentators were discussing the importance of Kuldeep in the team during the match.
To remind readers, Chahal last played an ODI series in South Africa in 2018 and Kuldeep took 17 wickets. The pair were regulars in the Indian white-ball team from 2017 to 2019 and achieved great success.
But things changed rapidly, especially for Kuldeep after the 2019 World Cup in England. After picking up a five-wicket haul in Sydney, the 27-year-old has had a rough ride in the last two years when head coach Ravi Shastri named him India’s No. 1 spinner in overseas conditions in 2019.
Over the years, the UP-born spinner, who has taken 107 wickets for various reasons in his 65-match ODI career, has moved down the pecking order among spinners in India. The Indian team management lost faith in their abilities even at the rank turners, where the classical left-arm orthodox Shahbaz Nadeem was picked from the stand-bys but Kuldeep, who was in the main team, did not get a chance in October 2019.
Kuldeep, who has taken 26 wickets at an average of 23.85, has not been able to lose his place in Test cricket as well as Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have become the favorites in the longest format.
But Ashwin’s poor performance against the Proteas in both the Test and ODI series recently has put a question mark on the 35-year-old Tamil Nadu spinner’s overseas performances.
In the Test series, he took only three wickets in 64.1 overs in three matches against the Proteas. And in the two ODIs, Ashwin came back with figures of 1/52 and 0/68. He was not in the playing XI in the third ODI.
As per Ashwin’s record, he has taken 430 wickets in 84 Tests at an average of 24.38, economy of 2.77 and strike rate of 52.7. He has taken five wickets 30 times and has his best performance in 7/59.
However, most of his wickets (300) are in his 49 home matches, where he averaged 21.40, economy of 2.69 and strike rate of 47.6. His best performance is at home, along with 24 from his five wickets.
In his 34 matches on foreign soil, he has taken only 126 wickets at an average of 31.88, economy of 2.93 and strike rate of 65.2. His best is 7/83. In his only neutral position, he took four wickets at an average of 11.25, an economy of 1.80 and a strike rate of 37.5. His best score was 2/17.
The 35-year-old’s poor performance is being criticized from all sides.
Meanwhile, ‘Kuldeep bring back’ gained momentum on social media. One wrote on Twitter, “Are you missing Kuldeep Yadav??” One wrote on Twitter. Another said: “India misses Kuldeep Yadav in the middle overs #SAvsIND #Kuldeep.”
“Kuldeep is a pure talent. Rest Ashwin, bring back the kulcha combo,” said one.
Kuldeep, who has been out of action since being ruled out of the second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 14 due to a knee injury, has finally returned to regular training. He underwent knee surgery in September and is on the road to recovery at the National Cricket Academy, Bengaluru.
India are about to announce the ODI squad for the West Indies series and Kuldeep has a good chance of making it to the squad once he is fully fit.
Kuldeep joined the NCA for injury rehab and has been keeping his fans updated with regular pictures and videos. In one of his earlier uploads, the spinner was seen working up his batting skills during net practice at the NCA.
The spinner was also appointed as the captain of the Uttar Pradesh team for the Ranji Trophy, which has been postponed due to COVID-19.
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