Asia Cup 2018: Combined XI

#3 Spinners: Shadab Khan, Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep has bamboozled one and all

The selection of the spinners was the toughest with a number of top-drawer spinners showcasing their talent at the Asia Cup. The likes of Chahal, Kuldeep, Rashid and Shadab are proven match-winners on the big stage. In the end, I have gone for Kuldeep and Shadab as my first-choice spinners.

Shadab has been a revelation since making his bow in international cricket. Having originally started off as a T20 specialist, he has taken to ODI cricket like a duck to water and boasts of an excellent bowling average of 25. The teenager is very accurate and keeps things tight, not allowing the batsmen any opportunities to break the shackles. The selection of Shadab would be the perfect complement for Kuldeep as Shadab would build pressure thus enabling Kuldeep to weave his magic.

Kuldeep has been bamboozling the batsmen with his unorthodox brand of left arm wrist-spin and is a vital cog in the Indian ODI wheel. He possesses the uncanny knack of coming up with crucial breakthroughs and is a guaranteed wicket-taker. In addition to this, his googly is very hard to read, which makes the batsmen’s job difficult. Hence, Kuldeep and Shabad bowling in tandem would help the team control the flow of runs, while also posing a wicket-taking threat.

Therefore, the pair make the combined eleven as the first-choice spinners.