Last Update on: February 9th, 2021 at 03:28 pm
As India lost the first Test against England in Chennai by a massive margin of 227 runs, calls for the inclusion of left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav to be included in the playing XI for the second Test, which will be played at the same venue from February 13, gained momentum, as former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan tweeted in his support.
Kuldeep Yadav last played a Test match in 2019 in Sydney and had picked a five-wicket haul, as well. But since then, he has not been able to break through into the playing XI of the Indian Test team. He was not picked on the New Zealand tour, while was benched throughout the four-Test matches against Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
This was done despite the Indian team suffering a string of injuries to key players which led to them debuting five new faces during the series, but Kuldeep Yadav only got words of encouragement from stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane and coach Ravi Shastri. Even Kuldeep’s childhood coach Kapil Pandey had criticized the treatment of his ward and had mentioned that had Kuldeep played for some other country he would have 200 wickets in 50 Tests by now.
“I am in coaching for the past 20 years, I have never seen players making the playing XI overnight. And Kuldeep Yadav is continuously traveling with them, suffering, yet they are not giving him a chance. There goes a proverb as ‘Ghar ki murgi daal barabar’ – so you are not trying to understanding him, you are not looking at his numbers, you are treating him like a normal cricketer,” said Kuldeep Yadav’s coach Kapil Pandey.
Kuldeep Yadav has 24 wickets from 6 Test matches including two five-wicket hauls to his name. He had made his Test debut in Dharamsala against Australia in 2017 and had picked four wickets in his debut innings as well.
The Indian team was hampered with poor performances from the two support bowlers in Shahbaz Nadeem and Washington Sundar in the recently concluded match, where Nadeem picked 4 wickets, while Sundar went wicketless.
We need to play Kuldeep Yadav in the next game: Irfan Pathan
Therefore Irfan Pathan, while congratulating England for this amazing victory in the first Test, pointed out that the Indian team needed Kuldeep Yadav in the second Test, which will be played at the same venue. Especially after seeing how Jack Leach and Dom Bess doing damage for England.
“Well done @englandcricket for winning the first test of this series. For team India we need to play Kuldeep in the next game,” tweeted Irfan Pathan.
Well done @englandcricket for winning the first test of this series. For team India we need to play Kuldeep in the next game #INDvsENG
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) February 9, 2021
Also Read: Had Kuldeep Yadav Played For Some Other Country, He Would Have Taken 200 Wickets And Played 50 Tests By Now, Says His Coach Kapil Pandey
