Why Kuldeep Yadav should be picked ahead of Ashwin on the England tour

No muck with the bat

There is no doubt that Ashwin is a genuine all-rounder in the Indian test team at the moment. However, in the recent times, he has gone off the boil with the bat little bit. Since 2017, Ashwin has scored only 329 runs from 13 Tests at an average of 18 going past the score of 50 only once.

When it comes to batting, Kuldeep is no muck. A first-class average of 28 with a century and 5 fifties in a little career shows he has potential. He is certainly capable of hanging around and scoring those useful 30s and 40s. He might not be an apt replacement for Ashwin with the bat, but Indian batting won’t suffer so much after swapping Ashwin with Kuldeep. After all, as they say, if your top 6 don’t do the job with the bat, you don’t expect your lower order and tail to do it for you.

Considering this, it is clear that Kuldeep could be India's trump card as well as a secret weapon. It is all up to the captain and the team management to take a chance with this young lad and show faith in him!