India’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka will be a crucial one for Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who hasn’t been in the best of form and hasn’t got many opportunities to play in the last few years. Once touted as India’s go-to bowler across formats, Kuldeep has also been short of confidence after losing his place in the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) squad where he has been in and out of the team in the last few seasons.
With most of the senior Indian players in England for the upcoming 5-match Test series, Kuldeep will look to prove a point to his critics in the series against Sri Lanka. However, he will face a stiff challenge from Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy – two bowlers who have been in fine form in the IPL.
In a presser organised by Sony Sports, former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar said that one has to feel for Kuldeep and that the chinaman spinner was harshly dealt with by KKR in the IPL.
“You feel for him a little bit. Playing in white-ball cricket at this point is very difficult. In one-day cricket with 5 bowlers in the ring, it has become a lot harder for the bowlers to bowl with two new balls – one new ball from each end. And in T20 cricket, with the kind of firepower there is on offer, I think he was harshly dealt with in the IPL because of the lack of faith that KKR sometimes showed in him. That has affected his confidence. I hope he gets to play all the games. There is some competition with Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy, but the only way he is going to get his confidence back is by playing games and not by sitting on the bench,” Agarkar said in response to a query from timesnownews.com.
Compared to the 2018 season – where he played 16 matches for KKR, Kuldeep featured in just 9 games for the franchise in 2019 followed by 5 matches in IPL 2020. He stayed on the bench in the first phase of IPL 2021.
Agarkar highlighted that Kuldeep hasn’t got many opportunities, even for the senior team and he can get his confidence back only by playing more matches.
“Unfortunately for him, he hasn’t got too many opportunities in recent time. In white-ball cricket, he has been a match-winner for India and I hope he gets his confidence back. He has got to trust himself, I am sure there is enough around that team. Whether it’s his colleagues or the team management to help him out but it’s eventually up to him to sort out the issues are – whether it’s with his bowling or his confidence, but that happens only if he plays,” Agarkar added.
