ENG Vs IND, 2018: Kuldeep Yadav is an Attacking Option Anywhere We Play - Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma, on Wednesday (July 11), lavished praise on the left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav ahead of the first One-Day International against England slated to be held at the Trent Bridge on July 12 (Thursday).

The India vice-captain Rohit said that missing out on the last Twenty20 International against England was very unfortunate for the young spinner but insisted that it was entirely the captain and coach’s call.

Kuldeep was the standout performer for India in the first T20I. The chinaman spinner had taken a career-best of five for 24, including three in an over, to derail England’s innings.

The hosts were comfortably placed at 95 for one in the 12th over before Kuldeep began his demolition job. As a result, England lost their next four wickets for just 12 runs – to found themselves reeling at 107 for five. They eventually managed to post a modest 159 for eight.

Kuldeep got off the mark by dismissing dangerous Alex Hales in his second over. But it was Kuldeep’s following over that really did the damage.

Eoin Morgan (7) holed out to the first ball before Jonny Bairstow (0) and Joe Root (0) were both completely bamboozled as they played forward and were stumped.

Aggressive bowler Kuldeep went on to complete his maiden five-wicket haul by taking the huge wicket of Jos Buttler.

He, however, failed to replicate that performance in the second game, going wicketless while conceding 34 runs. And the team management decided to drop him for the series-decider, much to everyone’s surprise.

Rohit also admitted that the spinner was unfortunate before hailing him for being the attacking option.

“He definitely is a very attacking option anywhere we play.  It was unfortunate that he missed out on the last game. It entirely depends on the captain and the coach, especially the captain, what he is comfortable with. He gives us that attacking option in this 50-over format,” Rohit told the reporters.

Rohit is also hopeful that Kuldeep would be able to trouble English batsmen like the way he did against the South African batsmen earlier this year.

The chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav was the highest wicket-taker in the six-ODI series against the Proteas, picking up 17 scalps.

“It’s a little longer format compared to T20. He will be bowling 10 overs, hopefully, he can extract some turn, bounce and trouble the English batsmen like he did in South Africa,” Rohit said.

“Those middle-overs are very crucial in terms of where the opposition go in scoring runs. So it is important to put brakes in the middle-overs.  These two guys – Chahal and Kuldeep – give us that option,” he added.