Kuldeep Yadav has been far from his best in recent times. PC- AFP
Kuldeep Yadav has quietly fallen out of India’s T20I setup. He wasn’t getting enough opportunities in the format to begin with, but he has now been left out altogether. Perhaps India want to explore newer options ahead of the next T20 World Cup, but Kuldeep’s complete exclusion still feels somewhat harsh.
That said, his recent form across formats has been unconvincing, although that could also be a consequence of the limited confidence and backing he has received from the team management. Even in the IPL, Kuldeep was below his best and struggled to make his usual impact. On flatter pitches, batters put him under pressure relatively easily throughout the season.
Kuldeep Yadav’s limited chances and recent form
India have played 24 T20Is this year, but Kuldeep Yadav has featured in only four of them. He played three T20Is against New Zealand leading up to the 2026 T20 World Cup, followed by one more against Pakistan at the mega event. Even that opportunity came largely because the pitch was spin-friendly, allowing India to leave out their specialist seamer, Arshdeep Singh.
After the T20 World Cup, India played two T20Is in Ireland, five in England and three more in Zimbabwe, but Kuldeep did not even make the squad for any of those series. Even when Varun Chakaravarthy was injured, India did not recall him as a replacement.
In the four games he played, Kuldeep took five wickets at an average of 24 and an economy rate of 8.57. He then endured a poor IPL 2026 campaign with Delhi Capitals, taking just 10 wickets at an average of 38.10 while conceding 10.29 runs per over across 11 innings.
Also Read: Shubman Gill - 5/10, Rishabh Pant? India Players' Rating After Sri Lanka Tests
Those numbers could have been even worse had he not finished the season with a three-wicket haul against Kolkata Knight Riders. His poor IPL returns may have further hurt his chances of returning to the T20I setup. India instead turned to other options such as Ravi Bishnoi to fill the wrist-spin role.
What went wrong with Kuldeep Yadav
Median drift for Kuldeep Yadav in each IPL season by ball types
Kuldeep Yadav did not do much wrong with his length, as he continued to hit his areas more often than not. The percentage of his good-length deliveries remained more or less consistent. Where he struggled was with his lines, and that appears to be a problem that had already started to emerge last year.
In IPL 2026, the percentage of Kuldeep’s deliveries outside off stump against all batters fell from 32.58% in 2025 to just 28.44%, compared to 35.21% in 2024. The decline was even more pronounced against right-handers, with the figure dropping from 31.41% in 2024 to 26.86% in 2025 and then 22.62% in 2026.
Kuldeep Yadav bowled a lot straighter to RHBs in IPL 2026
Instead, he started bowling much straighter. His percentage of deliveries on middle-stump lines against right-handers increased from 15.38% in 2024 to 16.57% in 2025 and 19.64% in 2026. The shift towards straighter lines had already begun last season, but it became even more pronounced this year.
Against left-handers, the trend was almost the opposite. Kuldeep’s deliveries in the channel outside off stump increased from 40% in 2025 to 45.61% in 2026. He may have been trying to keep the ball away from the hitting arc of left-handers, but he perhaps overdid it, giving them ample room to play shots square of the wicket.
Kuldeep Yadav went a lot wider to LHBs in IPL 2026
A similar thought process may have been at work against right-handers. Kuldeep could have been trying to bowl tighter, more defensive lines to avoid being attacked on flat surfaces. Instead, the approach appeared to work against him, as he became easier for batters to line up.
There was another significant change in his bowling this IPL: Kuldeep was getting considerably less drift. His median drift fell from 0.83° in 2024 to 0.73° in 2025 and then 0.60° in 2026. The decline was similar in his stock deliveries, with median drift dropping from 1.21° to 0.95° and then 0.81° across the three seasons. His googly drift, meanwhile, remained relatively similar to previous years.
The trend was not limited to the IPL either. In the ODI series against Afghanistan earlier this year, Kuldeep’s median drift of 0.55° was the second-lowest among the spinners, ahead of only Rashid Khan’s 0.36°.
One possible explanation is that Kuldeep was not putting enough revolutions on the ball, perhaps as a consequence of his increasing focus on defensive bowling. In trying to bowl flatter trajectories, he may have been pushing the ball through his fingers rather than generating the strong wrist snap that has traditionally been one of his biggest strengths.
At times, Kuldeep has also looked to use a lower or more round-arm action to beat batters off the surface. While that can help him vary his trajectory and angle, it can also cause him to fall away to the side and disrupt his alignment, making it harder to impart substantial revolutions on the ball.
Kuldeep himself acknowledged the issue after Delhi Capitals’ final league game in IPL 2026, admitting he had been bowling with a more open-chested action and was not using his body fully. He also found an immediate improvement when he consciously tried to spin the ball harder, even if the results lasted only for one game.
“I thought I was bowling a bit more open-chested and sometimes not using my full body. What happens then is you just push the ball, and that’s where T20 batters become extremely strong to hit you down the ground and play off the back foot. Once you start using more of your body and try to spin the ball harder, ultimately you see the results. You get the dip and the drift, and obviously you can vary the pace as well.”
That admission perhaps explains the broader issue with Kuldeep’s bowling. When his action becomes too open-chested, his hand tends to push the ball towards the batter instead of generating the strong wrist snap needed to spin it hard. As a result, he can struggle to impart enough overspin, also reducing his dip.
His sports hernia surgery may have played some role in the change to his alignment, although that is difficult to establish definitively. What is clearer is that Kuldeep has gradually moved away from the qualities that make him so effective. Instead of trusting his natural wrist spin and loopy trajectory, he has increasingly tried to bowl flatter and more defensively.
What’s next for Kuldeep Yadav?
Kuldeep Yadav’s omission from the Afghanistan T20Is and the Asian Games clearly suggests that the selectors and team management have little faith in his abilities at this stage. They continue to praise the unorthodoxy he brings, but his non-selection tells a bigger story. For now, at least, he appears to have fallen off the radar.
Either way, his issues have reached a point where he needs to redevelop his game to remain in contention. Ever since returning from surgery, India have not seen him as a genuine threat in any format. He even sat out the England ODIs despite being the only wrist-spinner in the squad, with the management instead opting for two finger-spinners.
India’s spin options are at an all-time low. Varun Chakaravarthy has had his own issues with form and fitness, while Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi have not offered enough of a wicket-taking threat. The newer options, meanwhile, are still far from ready.
That leaves the door open for Kuldeep to force his way back, but he needs to address certain aspects of his game. More importantly, he has to convince the management that he is worth picking as a specialist spinner ahead of Varun, something he has so far failed to do.
India do need a couple of specialist wrist-spinners, and the continued selection of Ravi Bishnoi is evidence of that. The issue is that they no longer seem willing to experiment with Kuldeep. That is perhaps more concerning for him because, even when he was not playing, Kuldeep previously found himself in the squad consistently.
For Kuldeep, everything seems to have gone wrong at once. A new management that prefers multi-dimensional players, Varun Chakaravarthy’s rise, injuries and poor form have all contributed to where he finds himself today. If he wants to make a comeback, he now has to reverse each of those factors, one by one.
Also Read: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi To Be Next Sachin Tendulkar Of India, BCCI Begins Prep
