As the Indian team prepares for their first-ever day-night Test against Australia, to be played in Adelaide from December 17, former India spinner Pragyan Ojha has named Kuldeep Yadav as the potential game-changer with the pink ball for the team.
Ojha said Kuldeep can step in and deliver for the team in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja who is likely to be ruled out of the series opener with a concussion and hamstring injury he suffered in the last ODI match in SCG.
Kuldeep has experience of bowling with the pink ball in the Duleep Trophy campaign back in 2016 as he finished his 3-match campaign with 17 wickets. However, he has not featured in Tests since taking a fifer for India in Sydney Test in 2019.
"India will miss Ravindra Jadeja's services due to the concussion injury. Thankfully, India has someone like R Ashwin who has been doing well. In the practice games, he picked up those wickets, bowled tight lines," Ojha told Sports Today.
"There is one more person who can be a game-changer for India with the pink-ball is Kuldeep Yadav because in the domestic pink-ball tournaments, he was successful. Batsmen were finding it difficult to pick him. Especially during the twilight period, batsmen were struggling to read him. That's when he picked up maximum wickets.”
"If Kuldeep Yadav is playing, he will be difficult for the Aussies. If you see this year, there has not been much cricket due to the obvious reasons. The pandemic brought normal lives to a complete halt. Kuldeep couldn't play consistently in the IPL. His match practice has not been great. It's important for the think tank to take care of Kuldeep,” Ojha added.
Kuldeep, thus far has 29 wickets from 6 Test matches, having made his debut against Australia in 2017 in Dharamsala.
"Kuldeep Yadav can be India's X-factor. He is a Chinaman bowler with a lot of good variation. In Australia, historically, wrist-spinners have done better than finger spinners," Ojha said.
(India Today inputs)
