“If you can’t pick him, then you can’t play him” - Wasim Jaffer on West Indies’ woes against Kuldeep Yadav

Former India batter Wasim Jaffer opined that West Indies failed to tackle the threat of Kuldeep Yadav in the first ODI in Barbados because they could not pick the left-arm wrist-spinner at all. Jaffer added that having a wrist spinner as compared to a finger spinner in the playing XI is a big advantage.

Kuldeep was Player of the Match for producing brilliant figures of 4/6 in three overs as India bundled out West Indies for 114 in 23 overs at the Kensington Oval. The batters chased down the target in 22.5 overs as the Men in Blue registered their ninth consecutive one-day win over the Caribbean side.

In an interaction on ESPNcricinfo, Jaffer stated that Kuldeep was way too good for West Indies as the opposition batters could not figure out which way the ball was spinning.

“That’s what wrist-spinners can do [run through the tail]. If you can’t pick him, then you can’t play him. Sometimes, to a finger spinner, you know what’s coming out. But, with wrist-spinners, the ball can go both ways. That’s what happened,' he said.

“Other than Shai Hope, the other guys couldn’t pick him - couldn’t pick the line, couldn’t pick the spin. Wrist-spinners can break partnerships and run through the tail and that’s what Kuldeep is good at. When he gets going, he can run through a side, can get you that double or triple strike in quick time. That’s exactly what he did today,” the 45-year-old added.

Kuldeep trapped Dominic Drakes (3) and Yannic Cariah (3) lbw with googlies. Shai Hope (43) was also caught in front of the stumps as he missed his reverse sweep off a full delivery. The left-arm spinner then had Jayden Seales (0) caught at leg slip off another wrong'un.

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“I could sense Jadeja is in the game” - Jaffer

Apart from Kuldeep, Jadeja also impressed with the ball, registering figures of 3/37 from six overs. Analyzing the experienced left-arm spinner’s performance, Jaffer pointed out that the turning and bouncing surface suited the bowler.

“There was spin and bounce on the pitch. Watching it on TV, I could sense that Ravindra Jadeja is in the game. He obviously made it count. He generally doesn’t get that help. In ODIs, you normally get good batting wickets where teams score 280-300 or more. When he gets this kind of help, he’s dangerous,” he said.

Jadeja cleaned up Shimron Hetmyer (11), who missed his scoop. He then dismissed Rovman Powell (4) and Romario Shepherd (0) in the same over, getting both batters caught at slip.