With Green Park set to offer a low and slow pitch, left-arm wrist spinner will have to vie with Axar Patel for the third spinner’s role.

Source: The Indian Express

Earlier this year, during a podcast with Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav surprised the off-spinner by revealing his age.

“You’re 29? I can’t believe this,” Ashwin laughed.

Kuldeep, who will turn 30 in less than three months, has played only 12 Tests since his debut in 2017. Despite his undeniable talent, his appearances have been limited.

His childhood coach, Kapil Pandey, remains optimistic that Kuldeep will finally get the opportunity to bowl in a Test at Green Park, the very ground where his journey as a wrist-spinner began.

“It’s unfortunate that he has only played 12 Tests in seven years. Hopefully, he’ll get a chance to play his 13th in Kanpur,” Pandey shared with The Indian Express.

Kuldeep Yadav’s stop-start career has been one of the most intriguing narratives in Indian cricket.

In 2019, after claiming a five-wicket haul in Sydney, Kuldeep Yadav was hailed as “India’s lead spinner in overseas Tests” by then head coach Ravi Shastri. However, in the years that followed, a dip in form and a career-threatening knee injury brought his progress to a standstill. A player like Kuldeep, returning from such adversity, required consistent backing and support — something he hasn’t always received.

In Chattogram in 2022, Kuldeep Yadav put on an impressive show, taking eight wickets and scoring an important 40 runs in the first innings. His partnership with Ashwin added 92 crucial runs for the eighth wicket. Despite being named the player of the match, Kuldeep was left out of the next game, as the team chose to include Jaydev Unadkat in the lineup instead.

Kuldeep had shaken off the idea that his bowling lacked energy and that he was too slow to trouble batsmen.

“He was asked to improve his bowling speed and batting, and he did both. But in the very next match, he was dropped. Since then, whenever he’s not picked, I can’t help but laugh,” said his coach, Kapil Pandey.

“I have witnessed his struggle up close. The way he was treated was unfortunate, but he told me clearly, ‘My dip and drift will be my answer,’” shared his coach.

Earlier this year, during the five-match Test series against England, Kuldeep made a strong comeback after missing the first Test. He took 19 wickets, including a five-wicket haul and a player of the match performance at Dharamsala.

However, just six months later, when India played their next Test against Bangladesh in Chennai, Kuldeep wasn’t included in the playing XI.

Now, with the team facing a toss-up between Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, the big question is whether Kuldeep will get a chance to play a Test in front of his family and friends.

India’s first training session on Wednesday indicated that if the team plans to go with three spinners, Kuldeep might be facing a stiff challenge from Axar Patel.

Axar was bowling in tandem with Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the nets, while at the far end, Kuldeep was doing the basic fielding drills with Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel. He did come on to bowl but by that time, India’s premier batsmen Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashavi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill had left the nets. Kuldeep bowled an extensive spell to his Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant.

Jadeja’s presence in the team might help Kuldeep pip Axar in the battle for the third spinner role. Although Axar’s stock in white-ball formats has gone up in recent times, when it comes to Test cricket he is considered a ‘slightly’ inferior version of Jadeja.

Pandey, who will be at Green Park with Kuldeep’s family and a few trainees of his academy, wants Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff to watch Zak Crawley’s dismissal in Dharamsala before taking a final call on the playing XI for Kanpur.

“It obviously depends on the team management and the combination they want to go with, but I believe Kuldeep should play in all home Test matches. He has that X factor,” his coach said.

“In Dharamsala, the pitch was completely flat, but the way he bowled out Zak Crawley should be reason enough for the team management to include him in every Test match,” added Pandey.

Looking at the bigger picture, India is aiming to secure qualification for their third consecutive World Test Championship final. After the two-match series against Bangladesh, they will face New Zealand in three home Tests, followed by a challenging five-match away series in Australia. Having Kuldeep Yadav in top form would be a huge advantage, as a left-arm wrist spinner in good rhythm could be a key weapon against some of the strongest teams in the world.

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