Sanjay Bangar opens up about Kuldeep Yadav's chances of regaining his place in Team India's T20I set-up

One of the heartening things that came out of India’s team selection for the T20I series against the West Indies was to see the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav in the set-up. Kuldeep had been mysteriously missing from India’s T20I set-up with the team management opting to experiment with the bowling group by giving opportunities to fringe players like Washington Sundar and Rahul Chahar against South Africa and Bangladesh.

Its been a tough year for the chinaman. Once referred to as India’s trump-card and one half of the leg-spin pair commonly referred to as ‘Kul-Cha’, Yadav had a forgettable Indian Premier League for the Kolkata Knight Riders earlier this year. The premier leg-spinner could manage just four wickets across nine games at an average of 71.50 and an economy of 8.66, and just like the 2019 World Cup, it was dropped mid-way through the tournament.

Back again in the mix, Kuldeep Yadav would be eager to stake his claim back into the set-up. However, Sanjay Bangar- former batting coach of the Indian cricket team- feels that the upcoming IPL season will play a key role as far as Kuldeep regaining his place in the playing 11 for the T20 World Cup in Australia is concerned.

“I’m a massive Kuldeep Yadav fan and in terms of strike rates you see he is the quickest to 100 ODI wickets and even in the shorter format, if you look at the match we won in England, he picked up five wickets at a time where the opposition was running away from the match. I wouldn’t count out Kuldeep Yadav, it’s just that he’s had a couple of poor games in the IPL last season. For him, and if he does really well, it will be very hard to keep him out.” Bangar told Star Sports as quoted by New Indian Express.

Sanjay Bangar backs Ravindra Jadeja over Krunal Pandya for the all-rounder’s spot

Ravindra Jadeja also made his return to the side after Krunal Pandya was dropped following lacklustre performances in the recently concluded series against Bangladesh and Bangar felt that considering Jadeja’s evolution as a bowler and his ability to complete his four overs makes him a better prospect for the all-rounder’s spot than Pandya.

“You require a wrist spinner in the T20 format, it has been a very major component in India’s success wherein 2 wrist spinners played a massive role in most of the one day’s and T20 series the team has had across conditions hence you will need a bowler who is capable of bowling the complete 4 overs and also bat at No. 7,” said Bangar.

“Hence, I feel Ravinder Jadeja edges over Krunal Pandya here as Krunal hasn’t been able to deliver the complete 4 overs at times and Jadeja has been in great form recently,” he added.

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