Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif has lashed out at the Indian management for repeatedly overlooking wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav in the recently concluded three-match ODI series against England. Despite missing the experienced players due to injuries, the management went ahead with the all-rounders, not handing Kuldeep Yadav a single game.
In the third ODI, India missed the availability of pacer spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy and Washington Sundar due to injuries, leading to talks that Kuldeep might finally get a chance to feature in the series, but that didn't happen, with Arshdeep Singh and Prince Yadav getting opportunities. Meanwhile, expressing his anger, Kaif said that Kuldeep should think of packing his bags and say goodbye to international cricket.
“Kuldeep Yadav should be thinking of packing his bags and saying goodbye to international cricket. Today, there was no Bumrah, no Washington, no Varun, but Kuldeep still didn't find a place in the 11. India's bowling attack at Lord's is one dimensional and lacks variety. A left-arm wrist spinner would have come handy. Remember he has 194 wickets in 118 ODIs. It seems these numbers don't matter,” Kaif wrote on X.
Kuldeep last played for India in an ODI against Afghanistan on home soil in June. However, since then he has not featured in a game. Moreover, Kuldeep was also not part of India's recent T20I series against Ireland and England. Talking about the ODI series, England outplayed India in the third match by 27 runs on Sunday at Lord's to clinch the series 2-0. Despite the loss, India saw veteran stars Rohit Sharma (138) and Virat Kohli (74) play excellent knocks.