Since the round-robin fixture in the World Cup against England last year at Edgbaston, the Indian cricket team has been reluctant to play their successful wrist-spinning combination of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
The two took a battering, in the presence of a surprisingly short boundary at midwicket, and since then, the ‘Kul-Cha’ combination went out of favor for India in ODI cricket.
In ODIs, Kuldeep has been preferred over Chahal and vice-versa in the case of T20Is. In spite of the 65 scalps in the 34 games played together thus far, at an average of 22.73.
The once match-winning combination of the wrist-spinner has been dismantled after, essentially, just one bad game at the office.
Their absence is largely determined by the team combinations decided by the management. World Cup-winning former Indian captain Kapil Dev reckons playing both Kuldeep and Chahal weakens the batting order slightly.
“If you play two specialist spinners then it weakens your batting a bit. Having said that, batting really shouldn’t be a problem for India but when need arises Jadeja can do the job with the bat and his form of late has been terrific,” Kapil told ABP news recently.
Also, Ravindra Jadeja has been formidable in all three departments of the game in the absence of injured Hardik Pandya, which further does not allow ‘Kul-Cha’ to feature together in white-ball cricket.
“Jadeja’s batting and fielding is so good that if sometimes he doesn’t succeed with the ball that goes unnoticed. That’s where he scores better than the other spinners,” concluded the 61-year old.
The ongoing ODI series in New Zealand saw a change in tactics from team management after they recalled Chahal in the games Auckland and Bay Oval, in place of an off-color Kuldeep.
