I feel Kuldeep Yadav has been put in cold storage – Aakash Chopra

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes Kuldeep Yadav has been put in cold storage and feels his omission from the World Test Championship squad and the tour to England is unfortunate. Chopra fails to understand why the Indian selectors have not picked a wrist leg-spinner in the squad as they have opted for Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who all are finger spinner.

Kuldeep has been in poor form in the recent past and he isn’t getting consistent chances in the playing XI. The wrist spinner was selected in one of the Tests against England in the home conditions and he could only scalp a couple of wickets. Subsequently, he didn’t have a great limited-overs leg against the English team.

Furthermore, Kuldeep couldn’t even get a game for KKR in the first half of IPL 2021. Kuldeep has been in poor form and he feels that not playing regularly has led to his downfall in the recent past.

In fact, Kuldeep was not backed in the historic Gabba Test match Ashwin and Jadeja were unavailable due to injuries.

Meanwhile, Chopra noticed that English players struggled against the wrist spinner but the Indian selectors haven’t picked any in the squad.

“I feel Kuldeep Yadav’s name has been put in cold storage, which is a little unfortunate because when you go to a country especially like England, where their batsmen face a few difficulties while reading leg-spin, you have taken all four finger-spinners,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel. 

“You have Ashwin, Jaddu, Axar and Washington Sundar, but not even one leg-spinner. You don’t even have a traditional orthodox leg-spinner, where you can think about Rahul Chahal, Yuzi Chahal, Mayank Markande or any other name that comes to your mind. That is one and secondly Kuldeep Yadav, who is a left-arm leg-spinner, his name is also not there in the list,” added Chopra.

In fact, Kuldeep has been part of the Indian squad in the recent past but he hasn’t got his opportunities. Yadav’s confidence has definitely gone and he will need to turn the tables soon. Chopra added that the wrist spinner is under huge pressure.

“Kuldeep Yadav did play the one Test, where he took a couple of wickets, but there is no doubt that he is under tremendous pressure because he is not getting too many chances. He sits out more and plays less. When he played the ODIs, he was hit as well, which can happen,” said Chopra.