Team India captain Rohit Sharma has said that there are many reasons behind the decision to rest left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav for the first two ODIs against Australia and one of them was that they don’t want to overexpose him. He also added that the management also wants to give a chance to other players as well. However, Kuldeep was named the Player of the Series as India won the Asia Cup, defeating Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the final in Colombo on Sunday, September 17.
“Kuldeep is a rhythm bowler, we all know that. But we thought of a lot of things and took this call. His bowling is going well, like Ajit [Agarkar] said, we had to give players a chance, especially those who played just one game at the Asia Cup and are in the World Cup squad. We have been looking at Kuldeep for the last one, one and a half years, this is why we don’t want to expose him a lot. He is coming back for the last match. There are a lot of reasons. This is the best decision for us, to have him sit out for two games and play the third. We have a couple of practice matches, so he should get his bowling rhythm right,” Rohit Sharma said.
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However, Kuldeep Yadav has stated recently that he has worked hard on getting rhythm into his bowling and his hard work is paying off now. Sharing his thoughts on Kuldeep’s importance, BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar has referred to him as one of India’s trump cards who possesses special skills as well.
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“I’ve spend a couple of years with him in the IPL. He’s a guy who has a special skill set. Every player needs to be shown faith, given a bit of confidence, which is what the team management has done. It’s probably showing on the field right now. In various conditions against various oppositions, he is one of India’s trump cards. We are all very happy for him and excited over what he’s doing on the cricket field for the moment. Hopefully, he can continue that. Clearly, most teams at the moment coming up against him are finding it a challenge,” Agarkar concluded.
