Home
Kuldeep Yadav has so far been nothing short of sensational for India when it comes to Asia Cup 2025. The left-arm spinner has bagged 7 scalps in the first two matches and is currently the Men in Blue's leading wicket-taker in the tournament. He first recorded figures of 4/7 against UAE before clinching three wickets in the clash against arch-rivals Pakistan. Notably, Kuldeep was adjudged the Player of the Match in both the games.
However, not so long ago, the 30-year-old was spending most of his time on the bench as India played England in a five-match Test series. Despite being picked in the squad for the assignment, Kuldeep wasn't given a chance in the playing XI in any of the five matches.
All-rounders were preferred over Kuldeep
Kuldeep has now broken his silence on the matter and has revealed that he had clear communication about his game time with head coach Gautam Gambhir. He also stated that the reason why he wasn't chosen in the playing XI was because the team management wanted more batting depth. That is why all-rounders like Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar were chosen ahead of Kuldeep in the XI.
"Sometimes, in 3-4 matches, I felt that I could play, but unfortunately, I couldn't play because they wanted batting depth. The communication was very clear. I feel that that is a very important thing. Gauti's was very straightforward. Sometimes, I felt that I could play, but as you know, because of the batting depth, I couldn't. But it was nothing about skill or batting. I couldn't make a place because of the conditions or the combination," Kuldeeep said ahead of India's clash against Oman in Asia Cup.
Kuldeep also opened up on how big of a challenge it was for him to not play regularly for India, stating that his bowling rhythm became quite important. However, he added that there is a lot that he learned despite not playing on the field.
"Challenges are there because when you play your first game after a while, your rhythm is very important. If you play regular games, your rhythm is set. You have an idea of bowling or you have an idea of spending time in the field, how you are reacting on the field. It was a very good time for me to work on myself, to improve my fitness and to give more volume to bowling because it is very important. I learned a lot," Kuldeep stated.
"As a player, you learn a lot when you don't play. When the team reacts to situations, you can judge from the outside. You have a lot of ideas about what you would do, how you'd react if you were in this situation. I got a lot of ideas from there," he added.
Meanwhile, India will be wrapping up their group stage in Asia Cup with the clash against Oman on September 19. Their first match in the Super 4 stage will be against Pakistan and it will be contested on September 21.
ADVERTISEMENT
