Sri Lanka Vs India 2017: Virat Kohli Explains Why Axar Patel Was Picked Ahead Of Kuldeep Yadav For 1st ODI
Updated - 18 May 2019, 01:36 PM
Ahead of the second India against Sri Lanka, India captain Virat Kohli has said Axar Patel’s batting and fielding abilities saw him getting the nod ahead of Kuldeep Yadav in the playing eleven for the first ODI in Dambulla..
Kuldeep was expected to feature regularly in the ongoing ODI series after his senior teammate Ravindra Jadeja was rested the series. The chinaman spinner, who made his Test debut earlier this year against Australia, has already left a big mark with his impressive performance in the limited opportunities he has got.
After taking 4 crucial wickets on his debut, dismissing the likes of David Warner and Glenn Maxwell, the 22-year old made his mark in ODIs too during the West Indies series last month, where he finished the five-match ODI series as its highest wicket-taker with eight wickets.
He also impressed during the two-day warm-up game against Sri Lanka Board President’s XI, picking up four wickets before continuing his impressive show in the Test series too, taking up five wickets in the only opportunity he got during the third Test.
However, the team management decided include Axar Patel instead of him in the playing eleven for the first ODI in Dambulla and Virat Kohli has now revealed the reason which prompted the management to bench Kuldeep.
“It was a case of having two left-arm spinners that led us not playing Kuldeep in the first game. Axar was favoured more than Kuldeep from the point of view that he bats quite well and he is a gun (great) in the field also. Kuldeep has got opportunities in the past,” Kohli said at the pre-match conference.
Kohli further said the team wants to test Axar and Yuzvendra who have not got many opportunities. Axar was India’s best bowler in Dambulla taking 3 for 34 in his 10 overs while Chahal picked up 2 for 60 in as many overs.
“(Yuzvendra) Chahal and Axar are guys who haven’t got many opportunities so we want to test them out. It’s all about giving opportunities to people which we feel will not hamper our plans in any way and at the same time, it’s about giving them exposure at international cricket,” he said.
Kohli, however, made it clear that Kuldeep ‘remains in thick of things” before saying that the team can field two wrist spinners in the coming games.
“Kuldeep remains in the thick of things all the time. To have a guy like that in the team is always a boost. You might see two wrist spinners playing together if we feel that we don’t need that much depth in the batting in the coming games,” said the skipper.
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Indian National Cricket Team Kuldeep Yadav Virat Kohli