Articles by "Kuldeep Yadav"
Nottingham, Jul 13: India captain Virat Kohli is tempted to play his 'key weapons' Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in the upcoming five-Test series against England, considering the wrists spinners' stellar performance in the ongoing limited overs leg of the tour.
While Kuldeep has already played two Tests, Chahal is yet to earn the coveted cap in the longest version of the game.
"Anything is possible with the selections for Tests and there might be a few surprises. Kuldeep is making a strong case for himself and so is Chahal. And looking at the way, the English batsmen have struggled against them, we might be tempted to do it," said Kohli after India's emphatic win in the opening ODI yesterday.
"But the focus now is winning the next two games. Especially the next game, looking at it from the series perspective. The weather has been lovely. It has been very welcoming. The crowd support has been brilliant. The tour is really long and there is some tough cricket ahead of us which we are looking forward to," the skipper added.
Kuldeep especially has been lethal both in the T20s and now ODIs. In the opening ODI, he set up a comprehensive win with a career-best six for 25. The English batsmen have failed to pick him and he has already amassed 18 wickets on the tour including the two T20s against Ireland.
Both Kuldeep and Chahal have grabbed the opportunities with both hands ever since they were preferred over the experience duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the shorter formats of the game.
As Kohli hinted, the wrist-spinners might get a go in the five-day format as well, starting with the England series.
Kohli praised Kuldeep as well as vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who scored an unbeaten 137.
"Those wrist spinners in the middle overs are going to be tricky. Given more overs and more time in the middle, they become even more lethal. Kuldeep was outstanding. To give away 25 runs and pick up 6 wickets on that kind of a wicket, I don't think I have seen a better spell of bowling in ODIs of late.
"After that, Rohit batted very long and finished the game for us. We made a tactical decision (at Bristol) looking at the dimensions of the ground and the breeze flowing into the shorter boundary.
"When it comes to longer game, you need players to make an impact. These two wrist spinners have been making the difference since they have come in. They did it in South Africa in the middle overs. They remain as our key weapons," Kohli added.
England captain Eoin Morgan said his team will have to improve against Indian spinners if it has to bounce back in the series.
"Playing spin against India is one challenge that hopefully we will keep improving upon. But today we were well off the mark. I think both the games there has been more turn than on the grounds that we have played on and that is one thing probably that we have identified," said Morgan.
"I think Lord's (second ODI) will be different as it won't offer a great deal of turn. But certainly he (Kuldeep) extracted more turn out of this than any other spinner. We need to improve as a side. The seamers on this wicket come on to the bat and hence the high scoring nature of the ground. We need to expose our areas of weakness before the World Cup and this seems to be one of them," he added. (PTI)
Bristol, July 7 : Rendered ineffective in the previous match, India's wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal would look to bounce back against 'well-prepared' England batsmen as the two teams clash in the series-deciding third Twenty20 International, here tomorrow.
The Indian spin duo faces its first real challenge in more than a year with England batsmen biting back immediately after drubbing in Manchetser. From Sri Lanka, to Australia, to New Zealand, and to South Africa, none of the opponents could easily contend with Chahal-Kuldeep in such quick time.
With Kuldeep returning wicket-less in Cardiff after a sensational five-wicket show in the series-opener and Chahal too taken for runs last night, they need to find ways to trouble the opponents.
India missed injured Jasprit Bumrah's services on Friday during the death overs as England hit three sixes. His replacement Umesh Yadav has provided wickets (four in two matches) in the powerplays, but he has also been taken for runs at the same time.
Despite the disappointment on Friday, the visitors are still in contention for their sixth consecutive T20I series' win, which is part of an unbeaten run stretching back to September 2017.
The last time India lost a bilateral T20I contest was against West Indies in July 2017, albeit that was a one-off game. In fact, India's last series' loss with more one T20I game also came against the same opposition, at Florida in August 2016.
In between those two losses to West Indies, India beat England 2-1 in a three-match T20I series at home in January 2017. That contest is notable because India were 1-0 down, and came back to win the series with Chahal taking career-best 6-25 in the series' decider at Bengaluru.
Wrist spin continues to be a deciding factor in the current series as well. Kuldeep brought the shock-value to the mix of things at Manchester and duly bamboozled England. The hosts, in turn, prepared well for the second game, despite the short turn-around time, and with a little aid from the pitch, played more selectively against both wrist spinners.
A little change in the England batting line-up also worked wonders. Joe Root was sent up at number four, with skipper Eoin Morgan dropping down to allow the former more time at the crease. While it didn't help Root in particular as he failed to read the googly for a second match running, it did allow Alex Hales to build partnerships and anchor their win.
Hales was included in the side in place of injured all-rounder Ben Stokes, but on current form, it will be tough to leave him out. Stokes returns to the England squad for the third match and bolsters their confidence being yet another key member to have played in the IPL.
In the current scenario, he could walk into the playing eleven in place of the struggling Root, based alone on the fact that he has played enough against both Chahal and Kuldeep in the last two IPL seasons.
Stokes will also provide another seam-bowling option, and thus it remains to be seen if Moeen Ali will return to the eleven. It will depend on pitch conditions. A similar wicket to the one in Cardiff will see the all-rounder sitting out again, for the boundaries at the Gloucestershire County Club will be short once again. That India played spin well in both matches will also be a factor.
The conditions concern India as well. Thanks to the last layer of grass remaining on the surface, England used the short ball tactic against the top-order. Both Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul struggled to get going against the short deliveries, while Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina looked ill at ease. Even Virat Kohli was out caught pulling a short one straight to fine leg, albeit in the death overs.
Morgan outlined that the short-ball ploy was more to do with conditions than anything else, but it is tough to see the hosts abandoning a plan that worked so well. The shorter boundaries will only re-affirm such a plan once again.
Victory on Friday would have allowed India to experiment in the third game, with the likes of Manish Pandey, Siddarth Kaul, Krunal Pandya and Deepak Chahar waiting in the wings. The same is true for England as well, particularly regarding their batting order.
With the series pegged at 1-1, it is difficult to envisage either team playing around with combinations as a lot is at stake.
If Pakistan beat Australia on Sunday, India could climb to number two in the ICC T20I rankings with a series' win, relegating England to number seven. Even so, this is about more than just rankings at this juncture. At the start of what promises to be an intensely fought summer of cricket, this is now about bragging rights and carrying winning momentum into the ODI series.
Squads:
India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suresh Raina, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Siddarth Kaul, Umesh Yadav.
England: Eoin Morgan (c), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Alex Hales, Chris Jordan, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, David Willey, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes.
Match starts at: 6.30 pm IST.PTI
