'Why not a wrist spinner against a side that tends to struggle against them' - Aakash Chopra questions Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion from Test squad

India’s left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s name is missing in the squad released by the BCCI for the both World Test Championship and the subsequent five-match Test series against England. Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra feels that the call to drop Yadav from the team was “a little tough”.

Notably, Yadav has not been at the best of his game for quite some time. He was a part of the Indian team that registered a historic victory Down Under, but he was made to warm the bench for the majority part of that tour. Even during the home Test series against England, he got only a single game to play, while both Axar Patel and Shahbaz Nadeem were given preference over him.

Yadav, whose returns have diminished even in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League, got no chance in even one of the seven fixtures his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders played.

Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion is a little harsh: Aakash Chopra

In an interaction with ESPNcricinfo, Aakash Chopra said: “Personally, even Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion is a little harsh. He has not played too much cricket, so to make the formal opinion that he does not make the cut, I feel that he is a little hard done by,”

“He bowled only one Test against England, on a raging turner. Picked up a couple of wickets at the end. Did not play the pink-ball Test. Now he is not playing the entire series. “Not just the WTC final, but also the five-match Test series against England. In Covid times, you have the luxury of playing larger squads, so why not Kuldeep Yadav,” Chopra added.

Chopra further highlighted the presence of as many as four finger-spin options in the team, but not a single wrist-spinner. He felt that Yadav could have been an asset in the English conditions against them as they struggle against wrist spin. “You get as many as four-spin bowling options – Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel – but all of them are finger-spinners. So, why not a wrist spinner against a side that tends to struggle against them,” he signed off.