India vs Bangladesh, second Test: Will there be a homecoming for Kuldeep Yadav in Kanpur? | Cricket News

Earlier this year, during a podcast with Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav took the off-spinner surprise when he revealed his age.“You are 29, I can’t believe this,” Ashwin laughed.
Kuldeep will turn 30 in less than three months, but since his Test debut in 2017, has played only 12 Tests. His childhood coach Kapil Pandey is hopeful that he will finally see his ward bowling in a Test at Green Park, the venue where it all started for the wr-spinner.
“It’s his bad luck that he has only played 12 Tests in seven years). Hopefully, he will get a chance to play his 13th in Kanpur,” Pandey told The Indian Express..Kuldeep’s stop-start career has been one of the curious occurrences in Indian cricket.
In 2019, after taking a five-wicket haul in Sydney, Kuldeep was touted as “India’s lead spinner in overseas Tests” then head coach Ravi Shastri. However, a few years later, loss of form and a career-threatening knee injury put his career at a crossroads. Someone like Kuldeep, back from the wilderness, needed backing and support; that has not always been the case.
At Chattogram in 2022, Kuldeep bagged an eight-wicket haul and scored a crucial 40 in the first innings, during which he put on crucial 92 runs for the eighth wicket with Ashwin. However, the player-of-the-match performance was not enough for Kuldeep to keep his spot in the next match, as the team management included Jaydev Unadkat in the eleven.
Kuldeep had shed the perception that he doesn’t have that fizz in his bowling and was too slow to beat batsmen.
“He was told to work on his bowling speed and batting. He did it both but the next match, he got dropped. From that point whenever he is not picked, I only laugh,” said Pandey.
“I have seen that struggle very closely. The way he was treated was unfortunate but he told me specifically that ‘My dip and drift will be my answer.’”
Earlier this year during the five-match Test series against England, Kuldeep roared back after missing the first Test and picked 19 wickets, including a five-wicket haul and a player of the match performance at Dharamsala.
However, six months later, when India played their next Test, against Bangladesh in Chennai, Kuldeep didn’t make the playing XI.
Toss-up between Axar and Kuldeep
The question remains whether Kuldeep will get a chance to play a Test in front of family and friends.
India’s first training session on Wednesday indicated that if the team plans to go with three spinners, Kuldeep might be facing a stiff challenge from Axar Patel.
Axar was bowling in tandem with Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the nets, while at the far end, Kuldeep was doing the basic fielding drills with Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel. He did come on to bowl but that time, India’s premier batsmen Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashavi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill had left the nets. Kuldeep bowled an extensive spell to his Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant.
Jadeja’s presence in the team might help Kuldeep pip Axar in the battle for the third spinner role. Although Axar’s stock in white-ball formats has gone up in recent times, when it comes to Test cricket he is considered a ‘slightly’ inferior version of Jadeja.
Pandey, who will be at Green Park with Kuldeep’s family and a few trainees of his academy, wants Gautam Gambhir and his coaching staff to watch Zak Crawley’s dismissal in Dharamsala before taking a final call on the playing XI for Kanpur.
“It obviously depends upon the team management about what combination they want to play. But I feel Kuldeep must play in all home Test matches. He has that X factor,” said his coach.
“In Dharamsala, the pitch was absolutely flat. But the way he cleaned up Zak Crawley should be enough for the team management to play him in every Test match,” added Pandey.

As far as the bigger picture is concerned, India is looking to secure qualification for the third World Test Championship final in a row. After the two-match series against Bangladesh, they will play three Tests at home against New Zealand, followed a five-match away series in Australia. India would love to have Kuldeep in good rhythm and an on-song left-arm wr spinner would be a key weapon against the best oppositions.