'Best in the world' Kuldeep Yadav deserved Grade A promotion, claims spinner's childhood coach

Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav was promoted from Grade C to Grade B in BCCIs’s latest release of cental contracts. However, his childhood coach Kapil Dev Pandey is disappointed with the board as they did not elevate him to Grade A.

Kuldeep Yadav has taken 12 wickets in the three Test matches that he has played so far in the ongoing England Tests series. From not being a part of the Indian team across formats to being India’s most key bower across formats, Kuldeep has made a long journey.

In BCCI’s latest release of central contracts, Kuldeep is placed in Grade B alongside Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal has been promoted to Grade B following his exploits with the bat in this Test series thus far. He has scored 655 runs in the series so far.

Kuldeep Yadav is One Of The Best In The World At The Moment: Childhood Coach

“Kuldeep is perhaps one of the best in the world, at the moment. He should have been promoted to Grade A. He has been performing consistently well, but I am sure he will achieve that place soon,” his childhood coach told IANS.

“Whatever, opportunity he is getting currently, he is delivering tremendously. I spoke to him a few days back and told him to keep up the spirit and don’t bother about anything else and focus only on the game,” he added.

Kuldeep took 23 wickets in the ICC World Cup 2023 in 11 games at an impressive economy rate of 4.45. He took 14 wickets in nine T20Is last year. Overall, he took 63 wickets last year in their two white-ball formats. He did not play Test cricket last year. He took 8 wickets in Test matches in 202 and has already taken 12 in just three matches this year so far. Kuldeep is four short of 50 Test wickets.

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The Indian spinner showed tremendous potential with the bat as he scored 28 off 131 balls in the first innings of the Ranchi Test. He added a crucial 76-run stand with Dhruv Jurel (90) to take India past 300 in the first innings with the bat. Cricket experts praised him for his maturity with the bat throughout his innings as well.

“I am not surprised at all. I say that only because he has always been someone who can defend the ball. Six-hitting is not his strength. He is someone who can defend well. You can see, he took 131 balls to make 28,” Dinesh Karthik told Cricbuzz.

“Very different to what Bazball does, but very effective in this partnership. More than the runs, they played timed and frustrated England. England bowlers had to work really hard to get Kuldeep out. It’s great to see,” he added.

Kuldeep has a best in Test of 40 that he brought up against Bangladesh in the Test series in 2022. His resolute batting got praised by former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar as well who compared him to Steve Smith.

India’s win in Ranchi helped them move up to the second position on the WTC points tabl. Engalnd are languishing at eighth on the points table. The fifth and final Test starts in Dharamsala on March 7.

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