The cricket world has been buzzing ever since the announcement of the groups for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. The highlight of the group division was India and Pakistan being put in the same group in the super 12s stages of the tournament.

Various cricket experts and pundits have already started predicting the team combinations for the two nations. Former Indian cricketer Deep Dasgupta jumped in early and said that Kuldeep Yadav will not be an automatic selection despite the spinner dismissing the Pakistani captain Babar twice in international cricket and having a good record against him.

He said that it would not be smart to pick Kuldeep Yadav based on numbers and statistics as a lot has changed since the two teams met in ICC World Cup 2019.

Read also:ICC announces T20 World Cup 2021 group draws, India-Pakistan slotted in the same group

“These numbers look very nice but they are historical. The fact of the matter is, while these are factually correct, the other side of the story is it’s been a while since they have played each other. Kuldeep’s graph has gone down a bit, Babar Azam’s gone up since,” said Deep Dasgupta in a Sportskeeda interview.

“Just because he has done that does not mean you blindly pick Kuldeep. You will also have to see how Kuldeep is bowling, and from that perspective, the Sri Lanka series, the IPL wil be very, very crucial going forward,” he added.

Babar Azam has an average record against India. He averages 31.6 and has not scored a single 50 in the five ODIs against the archrivals. He is yet to play a T20I against India.