Ravichandran Ashwin He has doubted that India continues to withdraw Kuldeep Yadavwarning that the left-arm spinner’s prolonged absence from the playing XI could damage his confidence and tone.Kuldeep was also left out of the Indian team for the third and final ODI against England at Lord’s on Sunday, despite the visitors missing two front-line bowling options. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was out with a knee injury, while all-rounder Washington Sundar was unavailable with a hip injury. However, the Indian team management opted for a tighter attack consisting of four pacers and only one spinner in Axar Patel, leaving Kuldeep on the sidelines.Reacting to the idea, former Indian pacer Ravichandran Ashwin sympathized with Kuldeep, saying that giving up repeated repetitions could damage the spinner’s confidence.“The only excuse for not playing Kuldeep more often is that the batting ends at number 7. I wonder how it feels to have Arshdeep at number 8 today! Add Bumrah’s absence to it, one can feel bad for Kuldeep. Trust me, this can affect the rhythm and confidence of the bowler,” Ashwin wrote on X.Kuldeep has now missed all three ODIs on India’s tour of England after being rested for the previous T20I series. His chances have been few and far between in recent months, having featured in just one match in the home ODI series against Afghanistan, where he returned figures of 0/42 in Lucknow.India’s likes of Axar Patel and Washington Sundar have been largely driven by the extra batting they provide, often pushing Kuldeep out of the over despite his ability to bat in 50-overs.
Playing XI for India vs England at Lord’s
India: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.England: Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue.
