Former Indian spinner and commentator Ravi Ashwin has shared his views on the Indian attacking spinner Kuldeep Yadav not getting a chance in the three-match ODI series against England. Notably, Axar Patel was the lone spin bowling option selected in the XI for the Lord’s ODI.
Taking to his official X handle, Ashwin wrote that with the ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah missing the third ODI due to a knee injury, it could have been a decent choice if Kuldeep had been opted as an attacking spin option.
“The only defense for not playing Kuldeep usually is that the batting finishes at number 7, wonder how it feels to have Arshdeep at number 8 today! Adding Bumrah’s absence to that, one can only feel bad for Kuldeep. Trust me, this can affect the rhythm and confidence of a bowler,” Ashwin posted on X.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Kaif, the former Indian batter, also took to his official X handle to insist that India’s bowling attack at Lord’s looked one-dimensional, lacking variety. He went on to add that Kuldeep should bid adieu to the game after being sidelined for the three-game ODI series.
“Kuldeep Yadav should be thinking of packing his bags and saying goodbye to international cricket. Today there was no Bumrah, no Washington, no Varun but Kuldeep still didn’t find a place in 11. India’s bowling attack at Lord’s is one dimensional and lacks variety. A left-arm wrist spinner would have come handy. Remember he has 194 wickets in 118 ODIs. It seems these numbers don’t matter,” Kaif posted on X.
On the other hand, Gill, who attended the post-series press conference, had revealed the reasons behind the attacking spin bowler not making it to the playing XI for any game of the three-match series.
“So the matches that we played prior to this, we had seen the wickets were not offering that much to the spinners. Whenever spinners came into bowl, we felt that we kind of had to go into defensive, whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening. And that was the thought process behind not bringing in extra spinner,” Gill said.
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