Kuldeep might be in every Indian XI that plays in the World Cup: Ravi Shastri

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav is one of the two Indian bowlers who have five-wicket hauls in all three formats of the game and in Australia, the young spinner impressed all by picking a five-for in his maiden Test. The 24-year-old bowler now has 24 wickets from just six Tests and is a talent to look for after Jasprit Bumrah in the longer format of the game. Kuldeep has already made a place for himself in the limited-overs team and his performance in Sydney could see him sail smooth in the run-up to the World Cup in England.

Kuldeep has been a consistent performer with the ball over the past few months and his latest show in Sydney has made head coach Ravi Shastri feel that he is the team’s first-choice spinner when it comes to picking the playing XI for the mega tournament. Though the chinaman was the third-preferred spinner in Australia after Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the absence of the latter two spinners makes him along with Yuzvendra Chahal Team India’s main spin weapons in the limited-overs and a five-for in Tests makes Kuldeep’s claim for a spot in the WC even stronger.

Kuldeep might be in every Indian XI in the World Cup

“Kuldeep comes into the mix big time now (in the World Cup),” Shastri told India Today. “He might be in every Indian XI that plays (in the World Cup) because he has the advantage of a wrist spinner. We might need to choose between the other two finger spinners because wrist spinner now is the priority.”

Kuldeep’s five for 99 at the Sydney Cricket Ground helped India make Australia follow-on at home after a gap of over 30 years but the visitors could not go on and force a win because of rain on Day 5 which disallowed play. The drawn game though did not hurt India as they ended up winning the four-match series 2-1 – first time ever on Australia soil.

Cheteshwar Pujara was a key architect in the win scoring 521 runs in seven innings and that included three hundreds with the highest of 193 scored in Sydney. India’s bowlers also excelled by bowling out the hosts in all seven innings they played with Jasprit Bumrah finishing as the joint top wicket-taker with Australia’s Nathan Lyon as they had 21 scalps.

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