Kuldeep Yadav - India's under-utilized, unparalleled trump card

Imagine having a wrist-spinner in your T20I side. A wrist-spinner who can pick up wickets at any juncture and for whom conditions, ground dimensions, and opposition batters hardly matter. Now imagine this being a left-arm wrist spinner. A completely different angle, more undecipherable variations, and able to maximize match-ups better than your conventional right-arm wrist-spinner.

Should be playing every match, right? Should be playing every match, right?

That was not the case for Kuldeep Yadav at the start of the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup. Playing in New York, India decided they needed an extra pacer and increased batting security, meaning that both Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja featured, alongside Mohammed Siraj. That move paid off, with India winning all their matches (the completed ones that is), and the extra pacer, in particular, coming in handy against Pakistan.

Kuldeep, though, is the sort of bowler who you’d want to have every time you take the field. This, of course, is no blot on India’s decision-making earlier, but the fact that Kuldeep, across three Super Eight matches, has proven his worth, only strengthens the argument further – that you simply cannot keep him out of the mix.

The clearest illustration of that was against Australia. The reigning ODI and Test champions were on a rampage in the powerplay, even outscoring India, who had blazed away courtesy of their skipper Rohit Sharma. At that point, it seemed Australia would cruise to the target, especially with all the firepower in their shed.

But then…things changed. And those dynamics changed because of Kuldeep.

Kuldeep Yadav's spell turned the game in India's favor

His delivery to dismiss Mitchell Marsh was not ideal. It was a drag-down and had Axar not pulled off a moment of magic on the fence, the ball might well have slammed into the walls beyond the boundary.

It did bring about a wicket, though, and some of the best bowlers in the world, not just today but throughout this sport’s storied history, have that knack of picking up a wicket out of nothing. Most times, in Kuldeep’s case at least, it is down to his sheer skill, and on others, it is almost like the game is making up for not granting him a wicket off every wonderful ball he bowls.

A few overs later, with Glenn Maxwell taking matters into his own hands, the Delhi Capitals spinner did bowl a beautiful delivery. A ball that warranted and deserved a wicket. It also highlighted how much he has improved as a bowler.

Maxwell, knowing that the asking rate was on the rise, was intent to step down the track, like he had done an over earlier. Kuldeep, realizing this, held it back just a smidgen, which meant Maxwell could not get to the pitch of the ball.

The star Aussie all-rounder, historically, has had issues reading the left-arm wrist-spinner’s variations consistently, and that was the next part of his downfall. Because he did not pick the googly, he aimed too square and missed his swipe. The ball crashed into the middle stump but even if it had not, it represented an easy stumping opportunity for Rishabh Pant.

To further explain the left-arm wrist-spinner’s impact, Australia needed a shade over ten runs per over when he came on to bowl. By the time he was done, they needed a tick under 12 runs per over, and he had seen off Marsh and Maxwell, both of whom could have taken the game away from India.

What was also revealing was the respect Australia seemed to pay to him. Apart from the ball, Travis Head hit for six over long off, there were not many attacking strokes against Kuldeep. Until, Maxwell walked out, and that too can be considered an anomaly because Maxwell attacks anyone and everyone (or at least tries to).

And that is what makes Kuldeep India’s trump card more than anything else. Teams already have to contend with a Jasprit Bumrah-shaped problem. Now, they also have to figure out a solution for India’s premier wrist spinner. And when they attempt to do so, they inevitably come up short because, well…Kuldeep is that good, reiterating that while Kuldeep was under-utilized at the start, he remains unparalleled in what he can do, and in how he can break open games, against a variety of oppositions and in myriad conditions.

There is also a nice, little narrative going on for him. Years ago, at the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, he was supposed to be one of India’s most pivotal bowlers, only to be ripped to shreds by Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow; the latter scoring a century that knocked the stuffing out of India and kept England alive.

Five years later, Kuldeep has a chance against that very opposition. Roy might not be around, but Bairstow most likely will. Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, and Moeen Ali will be too, and the Delhi Capitals spinner might not get a better chance to show how far he has come.

Those who have watched him lately, know the journey he has endured. From not playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, despite being in the squad, to now being almost un-droppable for India. The tweaks he has made, the way he has worked on his fitness – all of that is well-documented.

What he perhaps does not have, at this point at least, is a World Cup moment to himself. Which could be within grasp by the time this week is done. That there seems an inevitability about it highlights how special a bowler he is.

And this T20 World Cup, which began with a slight rhetoric - ‘surely he should be playing’ - has transformed into a more assertive statement, almost bordering on a proclamation that he must be playing.