ENG Vs IND, 2018: Harbhajan Singh Bats For Kuldeep Yadav's Inclusion Ahead of Ashwin in Tests

Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh has opined that India should prefer chinaman Kuldeep Yadav ahead of ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the upcoming five-match Test series against England.

The promising spinner Kuldeep has been turning heads with his sensational performances in England so far. He arrived in the United Kingdom (UK) after picking up seven wickets in the two Twenty20 Internationals against Ireland.

In the first T20I, he picked his career-best five for 24 to leave England perplexed. None of the English batsmen looked comfortable against him as he runs riot. He went wicketless after conceding 34 runs in the following game before being dropped.

The left-arm spinner, however, bounced back in style in the first ODI. He dismissed Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and David Willey to finish with career-best figures of six for 25.

India had gone on to thrash the hosts by eight wickets.

In the second game too, he picked up three wickets although England managed to 68 runs from his quota of 10 overs. The English batsmen came up with a good performance in the third game too as Kuldeep went wicketless.

However, his performance so far has convinced many that he would make life difficult for the hosts in Tests. And Harbhajan Singh is also one of them.

In fact, the 37-year-old believes Kuldeep should be picked ahead of his senior and experience teammate Ravichandran Ashwin.

“If it comes to one spinner that I have to choose, I’ll pick Kuldeep Yadav. In these conditions, he is someone, who has bowled a lot in last six games or so and he has been a pick of the bowlers from an Indian point of view,” Harbhajan told India Today.

 

“Yes! England have managed to play him well in the last two games or so but I still think that Kuldeep will be the key man for India going forward in this Test series. If at all I have to pick one spinner, I’ll pick Kuldeep ahead of Ashwin,” he added.

Kuldeep has played two Tests so far and has impressed in both outings. He made his Test debut against Australia in Dharamsala and ran through the Aussie batting.

The spinner picked up four for 68 to lay the foundation for a series-clinching win. He played his next Test match against Sri Lanka at Pallekele, where he bagged five wickets from two innings.

Coming to Ashwin, the off-spinner has fallen down the pecking order in limited-overs cricket.

However, he continues to be the spin spearhead in Tests. However, it is very much clear that the team management would not hesitate in dropping him or Ravindra Jadeja if the duo fails to perform.

Ashwin played two of three Tests in South Africa earlier this year.

On the other hand, left-arm spinner Jadeja warmed the bench in all the games. But Ashwin is likely to get the nod ahead of Jadeja and Kuldeep for at least the first Test.

The five-match series gets underway on August 1.