Kuldeep Yadav's absence from India's playing XI throughout the ODI series against England has raised questions after the visitors lost the three-match series by 2-1 on Sunday.
Among all the players named in India's original squad, the left-arm wrist-spinner was the only one who did not get to feature in a single match. In the series decider, India decided to play four fast bowlers, with Axar Patel serving as the lone specialist spinner.
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However, Axar failed to make an impact, returning with figures of 0/61 from his 10 overs.
Following the defeat, India captain Shubman Gill was asked why Kuldeep had not been included in the playing XI for any of the three matches.
“So the matches that we played prior to this, we had seen the wickets were not offering that much to the spinners," Shubaman Gill said.
"Whenever spinners came into bowl, we felt that we kind of had to go defensive, whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening. And that was the thought process behind not bringing in an extra spinner," Gill added.
However, after posting a mammoth total of 387, England's bowlers made excellent use of the conditions, particularly their spin attack. Adil Rashid, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell all delivered disciplined spells tp put India under pressure.
Bethell, who bowls part-time left-arm finer-spin, impressed with his control and picked up the crucial wicket of Rohit Sharma, who was batting fluently on Sunday.
The 22-year-old clean bowled the former India captain on 138 off 110 balls, ending a knock that had put India in a strong position and threatened to take the game away from England.
“With the fast bowlers, you obviously want to create pressure and see chances get created. Maybe in hindsight, looking at the wicket, I think it got a little bit slow," the Indian captain said.
"When we were bowling and when Axar bhai was bowling for us, it didn't look like the wicket would get that slow, but when they came into bowl, it did look like the wicket got a bit slower as the game went on,” he concluded.
Under head coach Gautam Gambhir, it has been observed that the team management has largely preferred all-rounders in the Playing XI, and Kuldeep Yadav does not offer much with the bat compared with players like Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, so he has often found himself out of the side.
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The 31-year-old wrist-spinner featured in just one ODI against Afghanistan at home last month but failed to take any wickets.
Earlier this year, he managed to take three wickets in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand and was also among the more expensive bowlers.
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