The spin friendly conditions in the Caribbean have brought Kuldeep Yadav into the mix for India’s T20 World Cup Super 8 opener against Afghanistan on Thursday. Kuldeep, India’s best spinner across formats, was benched for the league stage of the tournament as the team played three specialist pacers and two finger spinners in Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, stretching the batting till number 8.
Skipper Rohit Sharma has already stressed on the use of four all-rounders (two pace and two spin) to balance the playing XI. Therefore, he is unlikely to compromise on that front. So the only way Kuldeep fits into the XI is if India drop a third pacer.
Kuldeep, much like the opening practice session, had an extended bowling session on Tuesday. He bowled to Rohit and Virat Kohli, who employed the slog sweep against the wrist spinners.
With head coach Rahul Dravid watching on, Kuldeep was bowling to an imaginary field against Rohit, who was beaten by the left-armer at the start of the session.
If the ball turns at the main square as much as it has been doing in the nets, drafting in Kuldeep seems like a no brainer. Having said that, one can never be sure about the pitch behaviour come game day.
It could be a good batting wicket as Australia piled on 201 against arch rivals England in the league stage of the competition here.
“The pitch should turn in the middle as well, may be not as much as it is doing in the nets but will definitely turn. The spinners have proved quite useful throughout the Caribbean thus far. I don’t think India will make any changes, they would not want to compromise on their batting,” said a former international who was present at the venue.
Two days before the game, all squad members turned up for training on Tuesday. All 15 came on Monday.
Kohli, looking to get back among the runs, had a long hit, majority of them being throwdowns before he moved to the adjacent net to face Kuldeep and Khaleel Ahmed. Kohli middled most of the balls against Kuldeep but missed out on a few from Khaleel, leaving him frustrated.
Passing shower briefly interrupted the session before Rohit and Co returned to the nets.
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