Former India batter Mohammad Kaif believes that current Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill doesn’t have enough faith in Kuldeep Yadav. His comment came in the aftermath of the Galle Test, where the spinner failed to have any sort of impact. Both Manav Suthar and Ravindra Jadeja outbowled Kuldeep, and in all likelihood, the latter is unlikely to feature in the playing XI for the second Test as the team management is expected to go in with Saransh Jain.
Kuldeep was nowhere to be seen during the training sessions on the eve of the Test, which was a major giveaway about the team’s plans. Moreover, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir was also seen having a lengthy chat with Saransh on Saturday, just a day before the start of the second Test in Colombo.
The spinner just picked up one wicket in the series opener and failed to trouble Sri Lankan batters. However, Kaif believes that Kuldeep struggled in the Galle Test because Gill did not back him enough and didn’t give the spinner lengthy spells, which is crucial for any bowler to find his mojo.
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“From how he was used, it is clear that Gill doesn’t have enough faith in Kuldeep. From my point of view, you won’t get a unique bowler like Kuldeep that often. They come just once or twice in history. We may get Ravindra Jadeja’s replacement in the future, like we have Suthar; then we had Washington Sundar after Ashwin, but Kuldeep is a unique gift,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
“When you give a bowler a spell, especially a wrist-spinner, you need to give him a long spell. The short spells are not helping Kuldeep. Longer spells give you the chance to rectify mistakes. You need time to get into a rhythm. Shubman Gill did not back him in that sense,” he added.
‘Left-hander factor’
Kuldeep has slowly and slowly gone off the radar in all three formats of the game. He just played one match in the Men’s T20 World Cup earlier this year and was then dropped from the squad for the T20I series against Ireland, England and Zimbabwe. He also didn’t make the playing XI for the ODIs against the Three Lions.
Kaif now believes that Kuldeep will be sidelined for the next Test, as the team management might bring in Saransh given the presence of several left-handers in the hosts’ batting lineup.
“I feel India might be considering playing Saransh Jain in Colombo. The two batters who scored runs, Dickwella and Sonal, are both lefties. There came a time when Shubman Gill was searching for an off-spinner when they were batting. Because of Sri Lanka’s in-form lefties, maybe Kuldeep will have to face the axe. It was Suthar vs Saransh earlier; now it will be Kuldeep vs Saransh,” said Kaif.