We Will Have To Wait And See If Ravi Shastri Sticks By His Statement On Kuldeep Yadav: Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh, former Indian off-spinner, has said that he is looking forward to seeing if the Indian head coach, Ravi Shastri, sticks with the statement that he had made on left-arm leg-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, in the immediate aftermath of the Men in Blue’s 2-1 triumph in Australia, two years ago.

Kuldeep Yadav claimed a five-wicket-haul at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2019, post which Ravi Shastri had said that the ‘chinaman’ will be India’s first-choice spinner in overseas Tests going forward.

Kuldeep hasn’t played a Test match after that tour. While Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja continued to rule the roost in the last home season against South Africa and Bangladesh, Kuldeep Yadav was sidelined from the Test series in New Zealand, earlier this year, due to injury.

Apart from that, Kuldeep Yadav’s stocks have really gone down in the past 12-14 months. His form in white-ball cricket has really gone down since the 2019 IPL, leading to him losing his place in the T20 set-up for the upcoming tour of Australia.

 

Will Kuldeep Yadav play ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja in the Test series? Harbhajan Singh answers

Kuldeep wasn’t given consistent chances by KKR in the recent IPL and given the fact that he is lacking in confidence and form right now, Harbhajan Singh feels that it is unlikely that the ‘chinaman’ will be picked ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, come the first Test.

“When we talk about confidence, Kuldeep hasn’t played a lot of cricket since the 2019 World Cup in England. Even in IPL 2020, he played a handful of games only. It depends on the team management on how they handle him, and how they can get the best out of him,” Harbhajan Singh told Sports Tak.

“The last time he played a Test in Australia, Ravi Shastri had said that Kuldeep would be the best choice for the Test side on overseas pitches. We will have to wait and see if Shastri sticks by his statement on Kuldeep. But looking at his confidence right now, I don’t think India will pick Kuldeep in the 1st Test, they will either go with Ravindra Jadeja or Ravichandran Ashwin,” he signed off.

The four-match Test series between hosts Australia and Team India will kickstart with the Pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval from December 17.

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