Former spinner R Ashwin slammed Gautam Gambhir’s team management for dropping Kuldeep Yadav from the West Indies T20I series. He questioned benching the in-form wrist-spinner against a struggling Caribbean batting lineup and said blaming Kuldeep for past defeats was wrong.
Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has questioned the Gautam Gambhir-led Team India management for dropping Kuldeep Yadav from the India playing XI for the second consecutive match in the ongoing T20I series against West Indies.
Kuldeep featured in the first two T20I matches against the West Indies, picking three wickets while conceding 86 runs, before he was replaced by Prince Yadav in the playing XI for the next two matches in Indore and Hyderabad, where the team’s bowling unit struggled significantly to defend totals on high-scoring pitches.
In the last two T20I matches, Team India went with only one specialist spinner and three pacers in the XI, relying heavily on part-time options and pace variations as the Caribbean hitters piled on big runs.
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‘Lack a Bit of Common Sense’
Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion from the fourth T20I in Hyderabad has sparked debate on social media, as Team India conceded a massive 247 for 3 in their 20 overs, eventually falling short by 24 runs despite a valiant 223-run chase.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, ‘Ash ki Baat’, Ravichandran Ashwin didn’t mince his words, stating that leaving out a frontline wrist-spinner against a West Indies batting line-up that visibly struggles against his variations ‘lacks a bit of common sense.’
“It is very surprising because, on a ground where you expect to get some bounce, I know it has not always been a happy hunting ground for spinners. But the West Indies batters are struggling to pick his (Kuldeep) googly and leg-spin,” Ashwin said.
“So, if you are leaving Kuldeep out against them, it lacks a bit of common sense. It is very surprising because I think his presence could have made a difference of 15-20 runs,” he added.
Kuldeep Yadav featured in all three ODI matches of the series against West Indies, picking seven wickets, including a four-wicket haul, at an average of 23.85 and an economy rate of 5.56, finishing the 50-over leg as India’s leading wicket-taker against the same opposition.
However, the team management opted to look past those numbers in search of different bowling combinations, a move that Ashwin believes completely overlooked current form and matchup advantages.
‘Making Kuldeep a Scapegoat for Ranchi Defeat Is Wrong’: R Ashwin
Further speaking on Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion from the T20I playing XI, Ashwin clarified that while resting Kuldeep on smaller grounds like Indore made tactical sense, using the Ranchi match to justify his repeated omission was entirely flawed.
“I was surprised. Kuldeep was not picked in Indore, and I would still endorse that decision because I can understand that the ground is small,” the 40-year-old said.
“But you are almost making an issue out of it by suggesting that India’s loss in Ranchi was because of Kuldeep. That, in itself, is wrong,” he added.
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Currently, the five-match T20I series is levelled at 2-2 after the West Indies bounced back from the Indore defeat to secure a resounding victory in Hyderabad, setting up a thrilling series decider at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, October 17.
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