Yuzvendra Chahal backs Kuldeep Yadav to destroy England and bag 5-wicket haul

India’s outcast leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who once formed a lethal spin bowling partnership with Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav has backed the latter to claim a 5-wicket haul in the 2nd Test against England at Vishakhapatnam’s ACA-VDCA stadium where India posted 396 in the 1st innings.

Kuldeep Yadav after missing out on the 1st Test in Hyderabad, has found himself in the playing XI in place of injured Ravindra Jadeja at Vizag. Kuldeep will have the onus of doing something special against the Bazballers along with other two spinners – Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.

@imkuldeep18 5 wickets ? #kul #IndvsEng

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— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) February 3, 2024

The Indians have set up a decent 1st inning total which solely happened because of the tremendous knock from the bat of Yashasvi Jaiswal. The 22-year-old had smacked 179 on day 1 itself to become the highest run scorer of India in a single day of a Test match, overtaking Mohammad Azharuddin’s long-standing record of 175 runs at Manchester back in 1990.

As Jaiswal held onto one end of the pitch with solidity, wickets kept on falling from the other end. His opening partner, skipper Rohit Sharma got out for just 14 runs through a soft dismissal and became the first international wicket of England’s debutant off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.

Then number 3 batter Shubman Gill, who was also India’s 2nd best performer with the bat, departed after amassing just 34 runs off James Anderson. Then the middle order, comprising of Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar, Axar Patel, and homeboy KS Bharat were all dismissed by the spinners for scores of 27, 32, 27, and 17 respectively.

Ravichandran Ashwin who arrived to bat at number 8, batted throughout the remainder of day 1 before losing his wicket for 20 runs on day 2 right after Yashasvi Jaiswal reached his maiden double hundred. The Indians were eventually bowled out for 396 and now it’s time for the bowlers to keep the hosts in the game.

Can Kuldeep Yadav Script A Magical Bowling Performance On Day 2?

When Kuldeep Yadav was included in the squad for the 5-match series against England, he was expected to play a key role in the series. However, he could not break into India’s playing XI with the management trusting Jadeja, Ashwin, and Axar Patel for the 1st Test in Hyderabad which India lost by 28 runs.

But after Jadeja picked up a Grade 1 hamstring injury on day 4 of the 1st Test, the door opened up for Kuldeep Yadav to come in and make an instant impact, at least that’s what Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid will hope for. His wrist spin adds variety in the spin battery which only consists of finger spinners.

The 29-year-old Chinaman has not played any red-ball cricket since 2022. His last appearance in whites came against Bangladesh on 14th December 2022 at Chattogram. Since then, he has found it very difficult to get into the Test side even if he has been a prominent face in the shorter formats.

Kuldeep Yadav has a decent Test bowling record, picking up 34 wickets in just 8 Test matches since making his debut in 2017 against Australia at Dharamshala where he earned 4 scalps in the 1st innings itself. Yadav will be on for either his 3rd 4-wicket haul or 4th 5-wicket haul. Can he fulfill the prophecy of Yuzi Chahal? Time will tell.