Will unfairly overlooked Kuldeep Yadav be one of the final pieces to India’s puzzle

Will unfairly overlooked Kuldeep Yadav be one of the final pieces to India’s puzzle

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BCCI

Less than 10 months ago, precisely till before the twelveth edition of the IPL, Kuldeep Yadav was India’s ace spinner in limited-overs. And suddenly, he was forgotten. And now, his redemption process begins. A redemption that was, in the first place, never supposed to be.

Team India’s dominance at home and their incredible bench strength has been the biggest talk of the season with the pacers, in deviation from the usual supremacy of spinners on subcontinent territories, being held as the frontmen of the achievement. After a successful home encounter against Bangladesh, India will meet a familiar foe in a three-match T20I series, starting December 6, followed by as many ODIs. And ahead of that, skipper Virat Kohli has already revealed that they have finalized three pacers with only one spot left in that department for the WT20 down under. 

However, the question of who will India’s second spinner be still remains. And amidst everything, Kuldeep Yadav has become a forgotten man. 

India’s prodigal son, chinaman Kuldeep, was evidently broken when Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Moeen Ali hammered him for 27 runs in the 16th over at Kolkata. Just sometime after that, replays on the broadcast channel showed a mellow-eyed Kuldeep Yadav sitting on his haunches, having a sip of water with KKR teammate Nitish Rana consoling him. Sure he was going through a terrible dip in the IPL, but was something more going on the back of his mind? Perhaps, national selection? 

Unfortunately for Kuldeep, who did represent India in the World Cup, the worst of possibilities did come true. He was overlooked throughout the T20Is post the World Cup - first in West Indies in the Caribbean Islands, and then against South Africa and Bangladesh at home. Each of these series took away a little from his hope to qualify for the T20 World Cup in Australia next year. But, frankly, is it his fault that he finds himself in this place? After all, he was dropped based on a few bad IPL performances, whilst ironically, the man who replaced him, Washington Sundar, barely featured in the marquee T20 league.

And now, Kohli has, in his statements, given some indication that Sundar and batting all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja are ahead of Kuldeep in contention for a WT20 spot. 

“Having two wrist spinners is a big advantage when you're playing in Australia in big fields. There might be some games where both might play together but in T20 cricket, as I mentioned, it's all about balance. And predominantly we see one guy [wrist-spinner] playing with Jadeja and Washi because it gives us all kinds of variety in the bowling attack - along with the two-seamers and the allrounder, the seaming allrounder,” Kohli said at the press conference ahead of the first T20I against West Indies at Hyderabad.

There’s finger-spinning allrounders, namely Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar who add depth to India’s batting and then there are the wicket-taking wrist-spinning options in Yuzvendra Chahal and our main man, Kuldeep. While Jadeja's batting, exceptional fielding and timely bowling makes him one of the most prolific candidates in the team, Sundar's batting and economic bowling in the powerplay also adds incalculable value to the team. These show exactly what Kuldeep, a more aggressive bowler, might be lacking. While Kohli might be experimenting all he can to reach an ideal combination scenario, if India at all need a full-time spinner, trust me, there’s no one better than Kuldeep. 

And while this may or may not be the Chinaman’s final chance to seal a spot in the WT20, should he deliver if given a chance, Kuldeep will at least get back in the contention giving selectors a good headache. Oh, and by the way, Kuldeep is still ranked highest among Indian bowlers in T20Is.

That takes us to his international numbers, which places him much ahead of the other ‘bowlers’ in contention. Since Kuldeep's T20I debut in July 2017, among bowlers around the world who have bagged thirty wickets or more, the chinaman has the second-best average (12.97) after Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (10.69). Amongst Indian bowlers, Chahal comes second with an average of 22.89. 

Indian bowlers in away conditions since Kuldeep Yadav T20I debut (min five matches) © ESPNCricinfo

Since the competition India is focussing on will be held in Australia, we’ve looked at the away numbers for spinners and it shows us that Kuldeep aces, by a mile, ahead of his mates. In case of Jadeja, who has an average of 22.16 in Australia, is bettered by Kuldeep who averages 16.50 down under.

With Kohli saying that even though two wrist spinners might play together in some instances, it is clear that there’s a lower possibility of Chahal and Kuldeep both playing a game together. Kohli has instead held the case of playing Jadeja and Sundar a bit higher.

“...but bringing Jaddu back in as well, we feel he's batting really well - he's probably in the best batting form of his life - bowling he's a proper finger spinner, very accurate as well and in the field we don't have any doubts on him. So I think this is really his best phase as an all-rounder and we want to maximise that. And Washi has been brilliant with the new ball also,” were Kohli’s words.

But as it materialized in the first T20I against West Indies, wherein Kuldeep was once again overlooked, the spinners didn't bag as many wickets as they'd like in this format. The idea of them restricting runs does not necessarily work on flat T20 pitches, where batsmen are bound to score big. What definitely works on all conditions is taking wickets and that's what makes Kuldeep special.

Would you rather prefer a 34/1 or a 50 something for 3? As Sundar and Jadeja were able to produce the former in yesterday's game, Kuldeep had something similar to the latter in the 2nd home T20I against Sri Lanka in December 2017 where, despite Sri Lanka racing off to 145/1 in just 13.1 overs, India were able to bowl them out for 172 under 18 overs, thanks to Kuldeep's 3/52, a spell where he broke the back of the visitors' middle-order. When runs will keep flowing in in Australia, India would definitely need someone like Kuldeep Yadav.

But India have made mistakes before, despite possessing a strong bench. The management has either rushed into a selection or delayed a worthy one for too long and the recovery has been only after a major reality check. Now that makes us wonder that if Kuldeep does miss out, will be it India’s loss more than his loss?

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