Virat Kohli Kuldeep Yadav Shubman Gill. Image Credits: AFP
India captain Shubman Gill has finally broken his silence on wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion from the recent one-day international series between England and India. Kuldeep was benched throughout the series, even in the third ODI at Lord’s, where spinners were likely to get help.
India lost the third ODI to England by 27 runs. England had won the toss and chosen to bat first. Ben Duckett made 141, and Joe Root (74*) and Jacob Bethell (91) led the England team to 387/3 in 50 overs.
In response, India gave a good shot to the chase, as Rohit Sharma made 138 and Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli made fifties, but the Men in Blue could muster 360/7 in 50 overs, losing the game by 27 runs.
Kuldeep Yadav’s absence explained by Indian captain Shubman Gill
Kuldeep Yadav was the only member of the original squad who did not play in any of Shubman Gill's team's three games. Axar Patel was the sole spinner in India's playing eleven during the series final, which included four fast bowlers.
India captain Shubman Gill was asked about Kuldeep Yadav’s absence from the squad, and the skipper stated that bowling spinners felt like defensive cricket, while pacers gave India more aggressive options.
“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 defensive; whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening. And that was the thought process behind not bringing in an extra spinner," Shubman Gill said during the post-match press conference.
Also Read: BCCI Set To Introduce A New Rule To Indian Cricket
Shubman Gill didn’t expect Lord’s pitch to get slow in the second half
Meanwhile, when the England spinners bowled while defending 387 runs, Adil Rashid, Jacob Bethell, and Will Jacks got the ball to turn and troubled the Indian batters. In fact, Jacob Bethell castled Rohit Sharma, when he was well set on 138, to begin the end for the Indian chase.
Shubman Gill explained that the pitch got a bit slow in the latter half of the match.
“With the fast bowlers, you obviously want to create pressure and see chances get created. Maybe in hindsight, looking at the wicket, I think it got a little bit slow. When we were bowling and when Axar bhai was bowling for us, it didn’t look like the wicket would get that slow, but when they came into bowl, it did look like the wicket got a bit slower as the game went on,” he said.
Kuldeep Yadav remains out of favor under new Indian team management
Under the new team management led by Gautam Gambhir, the Indian team has been keener on playing multiple all-rounders to extend the batting depth than on playing specialist bowlers. And because batting is not Kuldeep's strong suit—say, compared to Axar Patel and Washington Sundar.
Last month, Kuldeep played one ODI at home against Afghanistan and failed to take any wickets. He only claimed three wickets in three ODIs against New Zealand earlier this year, and he was frequently quite costly.
Also read: Arshdeep Singh Picks India’s All Time XI; Rohit Sharma Given Unusual Designation
