Wrist in the tale!

Kuldeep Yadav arrives at NY’s Nassau County Stadium for India’s match against USA recently. Pic/Getty Images

When the first contingent of Indian players and support staff left for the United States in the fourth week of May, they would have expected Kuldeep Yadav to play a big part in their T20 World Cup campaign. But such were the turn of events in New York that the man earmarked to do the damage in the middle overs yet to take the field, his only bowl since departing India coming in the warm-up match against Bangladesh on June 1.

Spinners not needed at Nassau

The drop-in pitches at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium were so pacer-friendly that India fielded all four of them in all three matches at that venue. Also mindful of the need to stack their batting, they plumped for left-arm-spinning all-rounders Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. Kuldeep's left-arm wrist-spin, therefore, became surplus to requirement.

Now that the team has arrived in the Caribbean for the Super 8 stage, Kuldeep can be expected to get into the thick of things. India's first encounter in the second phase is against Afghanistan at the Kensington Oval on Thursday; depending on how the surface is read over the next couple of days, Kuldeep can hope to be summoned to weave his magic, which fetched him 16 wickets in 11 outings for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024.

It was largely at skipper Rohit Sharma's insistence that Ajit Agarkar's selection panel picked four spinners in the 15, recalling Yuzvendra Chahal to the national set-up for the first time since last August. At one point, Chahal and Kuldeep formed a potent white-ball strike force but with Chahal falling off the radar somewhat and Kuldeep finding a new lease of life, the latter has supplanted the leggie as the No. 1 wrist-spinner in the side.

India's opponents in the Super 8, apart from Afghanistan, are Australia and Bangladesh. Despite the Asian tilt to this Group 1, there will be room for the 29-year-old to do his thing; whether that will be at the expense of either Axar or Jadeja, or he will replace one of the two quicks, Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep Singh, remains to be seen.

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If it is deemed that the surfaces don't call for drastic changes, Kuldeep might still find himself on the sidelines, but that may not be for too long. In the last couple of years, his control over one of the most difficult arts to master has been exemplary, and his confidence has manifested itself in the form of wickets across formats, including in Tests where, for the first time since his debut in 2017, he played four matches on the trot, against England at home earlier this year.

Fine match-winner

With 59 wickets from 35 T20Is, at an economy of 6.74 and a strike rate of 12.5 deliveries per wicket, the Kanpur-born Kuldeep is an acknowledged match-winner. The trick is to find a slot for him, something that will seize the mind space of Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid.

59
No. of wickets Kuldeep Yadav has taken in 35 T20Is at an average of 6.74