Kuldeep Yadav has been one of the talents who has been called the next break out star from India as the left arm wrist spinner was making headways in the domestic cricket and the age group level cricket. Kuldeep was one of the star performers in the under -19 world cup in 2014 which was held in UAE. Ever since then he has always been looked at as the next big thing in Indian cricket with the potential to dominate the opposition batting. Over the last few years though Kuldeep Yadav has lost his form and has now lost his place in the team and has been omitted from the squad which is to tour England. In this story we look at the five main reasons why Kuldeep Yadav has been ignored by the national selectors.
Ashwin’s bowling form-
There is no doubt that Ravichandran Ashwin is a gifted bowler but the 34 year old has always struggled in the overseas conditions. Off late the Chennai based off spinner has overturned that and has shown his ability to bowl in unresponsive pitches. His recent form during the tour of Australia where he bowled with intelligence and patience showed he has finally come off age. Kuldeep was called the soon to be number 1 India spinner in overseas conditions by Ravi Shastri but Ashwin’s emergence in overseas conditions has given very less playing time for Kuldeep Yadav.
Emergence of Axar Patel –
Axar Patel made a strong debut during the recent home series versus the English and the left arm spinner made sure that the loss of Jadeja wasn’t felt as he picked 27 wickets from the three test matches he played. In the first test when Patel was injured Shahbaz Nadeem was preferred instead of Kuldeep Yadav, which showed where the left arm leg spinner was in pecking order.
Constant questions about his bowling pace –
The one thing that a lot of cricket experts constantly spoke about was the bowling pace of Kuldeep Yadav, there were many voices who called his bowling slow and lot of time for the batsman to have a go at him. When Yadav quickened his pace a bit he started to go for runs and the same voices questioned him again. This constant back and forth too has made him a shell of his former self.
Lack of guidance –
Post the champions trophy loss in 2017 India decided to do away with the pairing of Jadeja and Ashwin and started to go for the Kul-Cha combine of Chahal and Yadav till the 2019 world cup. One of the things Yadav himself has spoken about is the lack of guidance that he had when the great MS Dhoni was behind the stumps. The lack of a voice like who helped Yadav every step of the way has come back to haunt the young spinner.
India not wanting to tinker with the winning XI-
India has been on a roll in the test match format for a long time, the team has reached the final of the world test championship against New Zealand. This has prompted Kohli and Shastri not to tinker with the playing eleven and they go with the same combine most of the times putting the spanner in the works for Kuldeep Yadav who aims for a comeback to the Indian team.