“Why No Wrist-Spinner In Team” – Aakash Chopra On Kuldeep Yadav’s Exclusion From Test Squad

The Board of Control for cricket in India (BCCI), on Friday announced the squad for the upcoming WTC Final against New Zealand and the five-match Test series against England and as many expected, left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav has failed to make it to the squad. In addition, he failed to keep his place on the standby players’ list.

Here it is worth noting that Kuldeep Yadav was travelling with the Indian Test squad for the longest time but not getting enough game time. He did not feature in a single Test match in Australia as net bowlers played ahead of him.

In the 4-Test home series against England, Kuldeep Yadav got only a match to play and Shahbaz Nadeem and then Axar Patel was preferred ahead of him. The IPL 2021 also saw the wrist-spinner getting no game for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Meanwhile, former Indian opener-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra opened up on Kuldeep’s omission and termed it ‘little harsh’. The 43-year old reminded that Kuldeep bowled in only one Test against England and picked up a couple of wickets and did not feature in the pink-ball Test. Thus, Aakash feels that it is unfair not to play him in the entire series.

“Personally, even Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion is a little harsh. He has not played too much cricket, so to make the formal opinion that he does not make the cut, I feel that he is a little hard done by. He bowled only one Test against England, on a raging turner. Picked up a couple of wickets at the end. Did not play the pink-ball Test. Now he is not playing the entire series,” Chopra told ESPN Cricinfo.

“Why Not Wrist Spinner In Team” – Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra thinks that in COVID times when India has the luxury of playing large squads, why not opt for Kuldeep Yadav as well. At the same time, he also added that India have gone with 4 finger-spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel but have no wrist spinner in the line-up.

Chopra reckoned that Kuldeep Yadav could have been a great asset against an English side which struggles against wrist spin.

“Not just the WTC final, but also the five-match Test series against England. In Covid times, you have the luxury of playing larger squads, so why not Kuldeep Yadav. You get as many as four-spin bowling options – Ashwin, Jadeja, Sundar, and Axar Patel – but all of them are finger-spinners. So, why not a wrist-spinner against a side that tends to struggle against them,” he added.