Former Pakistan player Salman Butt has referred to the left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s selection for the ODIs against West Indies as a good move. He also opined that Team India lacked wicket-taking options in South Africa and Kuldeep’s return will help the team. However, he last played for India during the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka in July 2021.
Discussing this, Butt said on his YouTube channel: “Kuldeep Yadav’s comeback in the Indian ODI squad is a good move. India were short on wicket-taking options in South Africa. Their all-rounders were not effective and they did not look like taking wickets. Shardul Thakur seemed to lack pace, maybe he is tired having played a lot of Test cricket as well. Even otherwise, he doesn’t have the pace to trouble batters unless he gets help from the pitch.”
Butt again added: “Kuldeep is a very good option. With Washington Sundar as off-spinner and Ravi Bishnoi as leggie, the spin pool looks quite strong. (Yuzvendra) Chahal is also there. India have inducted quite a few wicket-taking spinners. Someone has realized that India need to take wickets if they want to win one-dayers.”
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However, Team India played with Ravichandran Ashwin and Chahal in South Africa in the ODI series while Jayant Yadav came in for the final match as well. But, they failed to win the games as well.
He said: “I hope Gaikwad gets a chance, he is a fantastic player. From the time I saw him in the IPL, I have said that it will be great to watch him do well in international cricket. It would be unfortunate if he does not play for a long time for India because he has all the makings of being a top-class player.”
Salman Butt has also opined that world cricket needs Virat Kohli at his best as he is one of the very few quality players in the game now. However, Kohli managed two fifties in three ODIs in South Africa, but they lost the series by 0-3. India’s home series against West Indies, which will feature three ODIs and as many T20Is, will begin on February 6.
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He stated: “It will be difficult for Kohli (not being captain anymore). But he is a champion player and one can expect him to shift focus. Large masses of public who like him a lot have now also started criticizing him because they want to see those big scores. For his fans, he needs to lift his game. Currently, there are very few quality players in the game, not more than 5-6. Even among them, he is one of the best. So, he needs to go on for the good of the game and world cricket.”
“There are so many players, so India are trying to mix and match. Venkatesh Iyer played only two games in South Africa. But he is now out of ODIs and has been picked only in T20s. He is very capable and it is not like he doesn’t deserve more chances in one-dayers. But there are just so many youngsters. I don’t think there is anything like he can play one format and not the other,” Salman Butt concluded.
