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A three-way fix for Kuldeep Yadav’s return to ODI playing XI
Indian think-tank needs to show greater trust in Nitish Reddy with the ball and Harshit Rana with the bat to see their spin trump card return to the mix
Mumbai
Among the bunch of batters who took fresh guard as India returned to ODI cricket after seven months at Perth on Sunday was Shreyas Iyer. The Mumbai middle-order batter wasn’t picked for any of the Test and T20I cricket in the interim, but slotted back to his No.4 ODI batting position against Australia.
Like Iyer, wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also had to battle to remain a playing XI regular in Tests and T20Is, although he’s got some chances, and even made the most of them.
Yet, Yadav couldn’t retain his ODI place like Iyer at Perth. Instead, India went with two finger spinners – Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, not as much for their bowling, but their ability to chip in with the bat.
Kuldeep’s continued exclusion from the recent five-Test series in England for the same reason – India went for batting depth – was a matter of constant chatter and almost a distraction for the team. But for the 30-year-old spinner, at the peak of his prowess, to be excluded from the ODI XI has again led to a debate whether there is an underestimation about the impact of spin bowling within the decision-making ecosystem in cricket.
Very few bowling coaches in international cricket are former spinners, and given how rare wrist spinners are – Kuldeep as a left-arm wrist spinner even more – the sample size of their match-winning ability is limited.
While picking a specialist spinner in Tests outside the sub-continent is not a straight-forward choice, there was still a strong case to throw the white kookaburra straightaway to Yadav at Perth. ODI cricket is Yadav’s best format. From the time he made his 50-overs debut, no bowler – spinner or pacer of any kind – has taken more wickets than his 181. Interestingly, the next three leading wicket-takers – Adil Rashid, Adam Zampa and Rashid Khan – are also wrist spinners.
Besides, Yadav isn’t your archetypal middle-overs spinner. He can be equally effective in the death overs. The long boundaries in Australia, the opposition batting line-up’s lack of experience in playing quality spin, India’s inexperienced third pacer and finger spinner’s vulnerability bowling on true wickets, all point towards Yadav getting a look in sooner rather than later in the series.
Given India’s poor batting start to the series, the first ODI didn’t provide a true reflection of their bowling efforts. But if they wanted to alter strategy, they could bring in Yadav in place of Harshit Rana for the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval. For that though, they would need to entrust greater faith in Nitish Reddy’s medium pace as the third pacer.
Indian selectors and coaches are banking on Reddy to be what Hardik Pandya could not – a pace bowling all-rounder for all formats and all conditions.
“I am 110 percent sure that with that attitude, you are going to go a long way and be an all-format great…that is where we all want you to be,” Rohit Sharma told Reddy when presenting him with India ODI cap 260 on Sunday.
Between Reddy winning India’s Test cap 315 last year to making his ODI debut, the Andhra all-rounder has had one true outstanding performance with a Test hundred at Melbourne. With the ball, he’s shown potential, but needs to be backed more.
“Reddy has shown a lot of promise, we have seen more in Test cricket so far. It gives us an opportunity to see what he can do in white-ball cricket,” Ajit Agarkar, India’s chairman of selectors said when Reddy was named in the squad. “We don’t have a whole lot of guys who can bat and bowl (fast) because it is a difficult job to do both and he certainly is showing promise and we will probably see a bit more of him when he does bowl in white-ball cricket and bat.”
Four overs in the Ahmedabad Test against West Indies and only 2.1 overs in the Perth ODI for Reddy reflects the gap between Indian think-tank’s statement and action in developing Reddy. Although assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate recently said they are “never going to sacrifice strategy for the sake of development”, Australia may be a good place to show more faith, especially with Pandya injured.
Having said that, Rana is also someone who has the team management’s backing. Being the quickest pacer in the squad, he has the tools to build on for Australian pitches. That would leave India with the option of replacing Washington with Yadav. That may be a departure from their obsessive insistence on having a capable batter at No.8. But if Rana is edging out other pacers for his potential to be an effective lower-order batter, it would be a good way of empowering him to audition for that role.
