Since Gautam Gambhir has replaced Rahul Dravid as India's head coach, one thing which has remained constant is lack of trust on ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav, as the chinaman bowler finds himself in a place filled with a lot of questions on his place in the playing XI.
Ravichandran Ashwin makes big claim on Kuldeep Yadav
As an outcome, Kuldeep's form has dipped in the recent months, as he endured a challenging individual campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season, where he struggled to find breakthrough consistently. Kuldeep recently made his latest appearance for India in the recently concluded one-off Test match against Afghanistan.
Also Read: Lord's receives ICC demerit point after 'unsatisfactory' ENG vs NZ Test surface
Also Read: IND A vs SL A: Ruturaj Gaikwad's century, Arshad Khan's heroics help India A beat Sri Lanka A
In the second innings of the Test match, Kuldeep Yadav returned with the figures of 3/30. Reacting on spinner's recent struggles, former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has tried to find out the key reasons behind Kuldeep's lack of form in bowling.
Reacting in his official YouTube Channel, Ashwin noted that the left-arm spinner was looking out of touch, as no rhythm was there in his bowling and appeared to be facing confidence issues.
"He lacked in confidence and had no rhythm. It was very nice of Gill to give him that spell in the second innings to get him confident. Kuldeep doesn't become bad overnight, which means there is something wrong in the mind, which will take time to return to its best. But the question is, is there patience to persist with him in India?" said Ashwin.
While talking further, Ashwin urged Kuldeep to find the answers for his recent struggles, as the Indian team won't be patient for a very long time and could try someone else for the role.
"If this were Australia, Kuldeep would walk into the team for the next 50 Tests. But in India, you can't promise that. So Kuldeep has to start finding answers faster. Also, a veteran spinner can be mentally affected when a young spinner is outbowling him," concluded Ashwin.
It will be interesting to see if Kuldeep Yadav can find his form back, as the competition for him is getting a little tough with Ravi Bishnoi being in the pecking order.