ENG vs IND: Kuldeep Yadav pays the price again for Gambhir’s all-round obsession
On the eve of the first ODI in Birmingham, former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar had one plea for the team management: bring back Kuldeep Yadav and give him a run of matches ahead of next year’s World Cup.
ENG vs IND, 1st ODI Scorecard | Update
In the series opener, the toss is cut and India, led by Shubman Gill, beat Kuldeep Yadav to pick three all-rounders in their XI.
Surprising, yet unsurprising at the same time.
Under head coach Gautam Gambhir, the Indian team has consistently preferred batting depth, often opting for all-rounders at the expense of quality in the bowling attack. This has been a recurring theme across all formats.
India have picked Washington Sundar, Axar Patel and Shivam Dube in a six-man bowling attack led by Jasprit Bumrah for the series opener on Tuesday. There was no place for Kuldeep Yadav, one of India’s most attacking spinners, especially in overseas conditions.
INDIA XI: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (WK), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna.
Many expected Kuldeep Yadav to feature in the XI, especially after Axar Patel and Washington Sundar struggled in the recently concluded T20I series, which India lost 0-4. Incidentally, India eliminated Washington in the T20I final on Saturday and captain Shreyas Iyer did not hold back in his assessment of the Tamil Nadu all-rounder’s bowling performance.
Kuldeep, who was not part of the T20I squad, was left out as India opted for batting depth up to No.8.
The absence of Hardik Pandya and Harshit Rana, who both add depth to the batting unit, further worked against Kuldeep’s chances.
Since the end of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Kuldeep Yadav has played six of India’s 10 ODIs in overseas conditions, while finger spinners Washington Sundar (eight) and Axar Patel (10) have featured more regularly. Across formats during the same period, Kuldeep played just 11 matches, compared to Washington’s 26 and Axar’s 30.
NO X-FACTOR
Speaking to JioStar after Kuldeep was left out of the playing XI, Abhishek Nayar said that India sacrificed the X-factor bowlers in favor of batting depth.
“You want batting depth but not at the expense of wickets,” said Nayar.
“At the end of the day, you win matches by taking wickets. Everyone will tell you that. The team that got to the IPL final did so because they had a bowling attack capable of wickets. If your attack can’t do that, it doesn’t matter how many batting you have – you’re going to 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 quantity at this level and we hope he does well.”
“Also, your other bowling options are more economical than the attack. Axar Patel picks up wickets when the batsmen take risks against him, when the pitch offers help or when he tries to force a scoring rate.”
“For me, when you have Kuldeep Yadav, you get the X-factor in the middle innings.
India were boosted by the return of Jasprit Bumrah, who played his first ODI since the 2023 World Cup final. India also picked Prasidh Krishna and Gurnoor Brar ahead of Arshdeep Singh, who was rested after a heavy workload during the T20I series. Gurnoor impressed in his first ODI series against Afghanistan at home.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
14 Jul 2026 16:10 IST