Kuldeep Yadav might continue to be the victim of India’s newfound approach. Since Gautam Gambhir took over as the head coach, we have seen a shift towards all-rounders getting preference over frontline players. This happened during the India tour of England, where Kuldeep warmed the bench throughout the 5-match series.
Considered an immediate pick in white-ball cricket, it may happen that Kuldeep suffers the same fate in the Asia Cup. Since Team India has picked just three spinners, it could mean that they only wish to play two of them. Because teams generally carry backups in case of an injury.
No Kuldeep Yadav in India’s Playing XI?
If that happens, Kuldeep might miss out. According to former India spinner Maninder Singh, Axar Patel and Varun Chakaravarthy are ahead of the left-arm wrist-spinner in the pecking order. Being an all-rounder helps Axar, while Varun was India’s best bowler in the UAE during the Champions Trophy.
“I doubt if they’re going to play Kuldeep Yadav if they’re going to play two spinners in the Asia Cup. It’s going to be Axar Patel because he can bat as well and Varun Chakaravarthy,” Maninder told India Today.
The former left-arm spinner thinks that Varun will prove to be India’s X-factor. This tag previously belonged to Kuldeep, but since Varun pulled his 2.0 version in the last 24 months, he’s leapfrogged him. His mystery puts him ahead of Kuldeep, which could be troublesome for the wrist spinner.
“He’s (Chakaravarthy) a material somebody, who’s very smart, not many of that breed in world cricket. So, I feel that he’s going to be very effective amongst the three Indian spinners in the Asia Cup. He’s a very smart bowler. He knows how to bowl in different situations and reads batters very well. He may look blank on the outside, but he’s a real thinker,” Maninder added.
India’s squad for Asia Cup 2025
Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Standby: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal.
