Kuldeep shines on comeback with all-round effort, as India take control of first Test against Bangladesh
India’s Kuldeep Yadav plays a shot during the second day of the first test cricket match between Bangladesh and India in Chattogram, Bangladesh, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Surjeet Yadav)
From the time he walked into the side as a left-arm wrist-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav’s career has been a start-stop affair. There were days when he played ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin in Tests, and there have been matches where he has continued to warm the bench while a replacement player played ahead of him. In the T20 format, where bowlers of his ilk are sought after, he has spent match after match sitting in the dugout.
From being a regular in white-ball formats, he has missed successive T20 World Cups – one because of injury and being left out of the other. In the BCCI annual contracts, he has been demoted from Grade A to C. With Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar being all-rounders, even when India have gone in with three spinners, they have often chosen to leave Kuldeep out. During India’s home series against England, played in spin-friendly conditions, Kuldeep was dropped mid-way through the series. And this year, during the home series against Sri Lanka, he was dropped once again to accommodate Axar.
But by the end of the second day’s play at Chattogram on Thursday, Kuldeep’s all-round efforts had helped India take control of the first Test. In his first Test in nearly two years, Kuldeep proved his value. (READ MORE)
