Kuldeep Yadav’s left-armed wrist-spin is already proving to be the major talking point in India’s ongoing tour of England. The 23-year-old became the first chinaman bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul in T20I cricket when he returned with figures of 5-24 at the series opener in Manchester.
The youngster then went wicketless in the second T20 at Cardiff before being dropped from the line-up in the decider as India went on to capture the three-match series by 2-1.
Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg, who was a successful chinaman bowler himself, believes that Kuldeep should be a part of India’s Test squad for the five-match series which will follow the ODIs. Kuldeep has played only two Tests so far in his young career after making his debut against Australia in March last year. He managed to pick up nine wickets in the two games.
“Kuldeep provides the much-needed variety to the Indian spin attack and I would definitely have him in the Test squad,” Hogg told the Press Trust of India.
Hogg feels England have a big weakness against spinners.
“I feel Kuldeep attacks the stumps a lot more and his quick-arm action does bamboozle the opposition. Having said that, I would like to see him bowl a lot quicker when he sees the batsmen step out and attack him. It will not allow the batsmen to play the power-strokes,” the Aussie added.
Hogg, who played seven Tests, 123 ODIs and 15 T20s for Australia in his career, feels England’s batsmen have an inherent weakness against spin.
“English batsmen tend to sweep as they are scared to use their feet. Also, they don’t pick the ball from the spinner’s hand. Kevin Pietersen was the exception. Bowling against him was difficult because he had quick feet and also possessed a long reach. He could reach off to good length deliveries and negate the spin. But England don’t have the luxury of having someone like KP in their top-order,” Hogg explained.
All eyes will now be on how Kuldeep performs in the three-match ODI series which gets underway at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Thursday.
