Not Joe Root! Kuldeep Yadav names England's best player of spin

Indian wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav opened up about the best batter for England against spin bowling in the recent five-match Test series. He believes that opener Zak Crawley was better than his teammates as he played the spin well and played proper cricketing shots.

India clinched the five-match Test series against England by the margin of 4-1. One of the prime reasons behind the success of the Rohit Sharma-led side was spinner Kuldeep Yadav as he bowled magnificently well in the series and also was decent with the bat.

Kuldeep Yadav spun the web around the England batters and made them look clueless. The opposition’s failure to tackle the Indian spinners was one of the major reasons behind their downfall as their batting pushed them back even when they were in the winning position.

Amongst all the England batters, opener Zak Crawley looked the most settled batter. He made sure that his side got started in every match they played. The opening batter hit vital half-centuries for his team as well and took them off the big starts in the series.

However, despite playing the spin well, Zak Crawley struggled to get going against Kuldeep Yadav. The leg-spinner produced a peach of deliveries to remove him. The Indian spinner confused the batter with his variations and had the upper hand in the battle.

Kuldeep Yadav while rating Zak Crawley as the best England batter stated that the batter hardly played any sweeps or reverse-sweeps. He admitted that he found it challenging to bowl to the opener and it took him his best balls to remove the right-hander. Speaking to Indian Express, he explained:

“In my opinion, Zak Crawley was the best player of spin in the England team. He hardly played any sweeps or reverse sweeps, he was playing proper cricketing shots so it was challenging to get him out. Twice I got him out, in Ranchi and Dharamsala, and those were my best balls.”

The way Joe Root batted in the last two games, that’s his style – Kuldeep Yadav

England’s premier batter Joe Root failed to get going in the initial part of the series. He played with an attacking brand of cricket but he couldn’t contribute much with the bat. The batter, however, got his best in Ranchi with his old approach and scored an unbeaten 121 runs and then followed it up with 84 in Dharamsala.

Kuldeep Yadav admitted that Joe Root is at his best when he plays in his own style. But he remarked that as a bowler he wanted him to play attacking cricket because chances to get him out would’ve increased. He stated:

“The way Joe Root batted in the last two games, that’s his style. But as an opposition player, you want a player like Joe Root to play in an attacking fashion so that you have a better chance to get him out because he can play a long innings.”

Kuldeep Yadav picked 19 wickets in the 4 games that he played at an average of 20.26. He picked fifer in the Dharamsala and also made crucial contributions with the bat.