Indian skipper Rohit Sharma revealed the reason for dropping India’s Chinese bowler Kuldeep Yadav in the first two matches of their upcoming ODI series against Australia. Kuldeep’s skill with spin was on display during the Asia Cup and will now miss the first two matches of India’s three-match ODI series due to the risk of not being exposed much before the ODI World Cup.
Opposition batters were at the mercy of Kuldeep as he scalped 9 wickets in 5 matches at an average of 11.44 and an economy of 3.61.
But with India’s first World Cup match being against Australia, the Indian captain is unwilling to give the opposition time with Kuldeep on the field before the action-packed tournament begins.
“Kuldeep is a rhythm bowler, we all know that. But we thought of many things and took this call. His bowling is going well, so is Ajit [Agarkar] said we should give a chance to players, especially those who have played just one match in the Asia Cup and are in the World Cup squad,” Rohit said at a press conference.
“We have been watching Kuldeep for the last year and a half so we don’t want to expose him much. He will be back for the last match. There are many reasons. This is the best decision for us to make him sit out two matches and the third We also have two practice matches [before the World Cup opener]so for the bowling pace he will be back in it,” Rohit added.
India will start the series on September 22 at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
Indian squad for the Australian series:
For the first two ODIs: KL Rahul (captain), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Tilak Varma, Prasidh Krishna, R Ashwin, Washington Sundar
For the third ODI: Rohit Sharma (captain), Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Virat Kohli , Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel (subject to eligibility), R Ashwin, Washington Sundar.
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