On the eve of the first ODI in Birmingham, former India assistant coach Abhishek Nair made an appeal to the team management: support Kuldeep Yadav and give him a chance to play before next year’s World Cup.

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The toss was cut short in the series opener and India, led by Shubman Gill, dropped Kuldeep Yadav and chose three all-rounders in their eleven.

Surprising, and yet, not surprising at the same time.

The Indian team, under head coach Gautam Gambhir, has consistently prioritized batting depth, often choosing all-rounders at the expense of quality in the bowling attack. This has been a recurring theme across all formats.

India chose Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Shivam Dubey in a six-man bowling attack for the series opener on Tuesday, which will be led by Jasprit Bumrah. There was no room for Kuldeep Yadav, one of India’s most aggressive spinners, especially in overseas conditions.

India XI: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna.

Many expected Kuldeep Yadav to be included in the XI, especially after Axar Patel and Washington Sundar struggled in the recently concluded T20 series. Which India lost 0-4. Incidentally, India ousted Washington for the final T20I on Saturday and captain Shreyas Iyer did not hold back in assessing the bowling performance of the Tamil Nadu all-rounder.

Kuldeep, who was not part of the T20 squad, missed out as India opted to bat deep at No. 8.

The absence of Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana, both of whom add depth to the batting unit, worked against Kuldeep’s chances.

Since the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Kuldeep Yadav has played six of India’s 10 ODI matches in overseas conditions, while finger spinners Washington Sundar (eight) and Axar Patel (10) have featured more regularly. During the same period across all formats, Kuldeep has played only 11 matches, while Washington has played 26 and Axar has played 30 matches.

no x factor

After Kuldeep was dropped from the playing eleven, Abhishek Nair, speaking to GeoStar, said that India are sacrificing an X-factor bowler for batting depth.

“You want depth in batting, but not at the expense of taking wickets,” Nair said.

“At the end of the day, you win games by taking wickets. Anybody will tell you this. A team that reached the IPL final did so because it had a bowling attack capable of taking wickets. If your attack can’t do that, it doesn’t matter how much batting you have – you will struggle.

“In this line-up, you have Prasidh Krishna, who can take wickets, and Jasprit Bumrah, who can take wickets. Gurnoor Brar is an unknown number at this level, and we hope he does well.

“Also, your other bowling options are more economical than attacking. Axar Patel takes wickets when batsmen take risks against him, when the pitch provides support, or when they try to force the scoring rate.

“For me, having Kuldeep Yadav gives you the X-factor in the middle overs.”

India were boosted by the return of Jasprit Bumrah, who was playing his first ODI since the 2023 World Cup final. India also picked Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar in place of Arshdeep Singh, who was rested after a heavy workload during the T20 series. Gurnoor impressed in his first ODI series against Afghanistan on home soil.

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