NEW DELHI: “We were tempted to play Kuldeep, but looking at the last match, our lower order didn't do well, so we decided to add some depth to the batting,” Shubman Gill had said, putting to rest all speculation around Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion from the playing XI for the Edgbaston Test.
Kuldeep, who returned to the Test format for the first time since the home series against New Zealand last October, missed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to injury. He was then handed a well-deserved call-up for the England tour. But he didn’t feature at Headingley and was benched again at Edgbaston.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!All Kuldeep did was carry drinks, relay head coach Gautam Gambhir’s messages to players in the middle, participate in team huddles, and applaud every milestone his teammates achieved on the field.
Of his 56 wickets in 13 Tests so far, 21 have come against England — a sign of how much he has troubled the English batters over the years.
Kuldeep’s childhood coach, Kapil Dev Pandey, believes the result at Headingley might have been different had Kuldeep played, insisting that the wrist-spinner alongside a fiery Jasprit Bumrah would have formed a lethal combination in the match.
"I just don’t understand why Kuldeep didn’t play. During the toss, Shubman Gill said that at Headingley, the lower order flopped, and we fell short of runs, so they included Washington Sundar for his batting in the second Test. But Kuldeep is a wrist-spinner who has troubled England and Australia overseas. Shouldn’t he have been there? Or should he now be sent back to domestic cricket and asked to open the batting? That’s unfair, right?" Kapil Dev Pandey told TimesofIndia.com in an exclusive interview.
"Deep down, the management has doubts about him, which is why they haven’t played him yet. If you’re playing six batters, you might as well play eleven. But none of it matters if you don’t have a wicket-taker. As a coach, I’d say Kuldeep is essential for the country. Even if the batters score centuries, if we lose the match, it’s all in vain. Kuldeep should play at Lord's," he said.
"Look at his Test record—he’s scored runs against Bangladesh and other decent teams. He’s got fifties in tournaments like the Duleep Trophy and Uttar Pradesh state matches. We need to think—if Kuldeep had been played and didn’t deliver, we could’ve moved on. But he should’ve been given at least one or two matches. England’s spinners are getting wickets here, and that should tell us something. Sure, Bumrah can take 2–3 quick wickets, but spinners will make the real difference. Had someone like Mohammad Shami been in the team, maybe we’d have had a better balance. Kuldeep and Bumrah would have been a lethal combination in the first Test," Pandey said while countering Gill's comment about adding depth in batting.
On the other hand, former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi believes that batting depth has become crucial in modern cricket, and captains often prioritise it when selecting their playing XI. That, he says, could be the reason Washington Sundar — known for his ability to score vital runs — was preferred over Kuldeep.
Joshi, who represented India in 15 Tests and 69 ODIs, also feels that England must be relieved not to have faced Kuldeep at all in the series so far.
"In today’s game, a bowler needs to be three-dimensional. If he can chip in with 10–15 runs, it strengthens his case for being in the XI," Joshi told TimesofIndia.com.
"Traditionally, England have struggled against wrist-spinners, so even I was hoping Kuldeep would play. But if the captain and team management are looking for a bowler who can contribute with the bat, then I understand why Washington Sundar got the nod. England must be very happy Kuldeep is not playing," he said.
Quiz:
Who's that IPL player?"Speaking personally, I was a bowler, and batting was always a bonus for me—but it gave me opportunities. When there’s competition, and one player is a better batter, he gets the nod. That worked in my favour too. The spinners I played alongside—Murali Kartik, Nilesh Kulkarni, Gyanendra Pandey, Venkatapathy Raju, Rahul Sanghvi—all were good bowlers, but I got more opportunities because I was the better batter among them," the former cricketer said.
With star pacer Jasprit Bumrah likely to return for the third Test at Lord's, Prasidh Krishna — who has struggled with his economy — might make way.
The big question now is: will Shubman Gill finally include Kuldeep Yadav in the playing XI, or opt for extra batting depth once again, leaving the spinner to continue playing the waiting game? It will be interesting to see
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