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India skipper Rohit Sharma opens up on 'resting' Kuldeep Yadav for first ODIs of Australia series

India skipper Rohit Sharma opens up on 'resting' Kuldeep Yadav for first ODIs of Australia series

Asia Cup: Former WC winner highlights key factor in Kuldeep Yadav's success, says 'there's no fear of failure'

India announced the squad for three-match ODI series against Australia on September 18 and have decided to 'preserve' the lone World Cup squad wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav from 'exposing' too much. The Chinaman bowler, however, comes back into the team for the last ODI of the series.

"Kuldeep is a rhythm bowler, we all know that," India captain Rohit Sharma said about the decision. "But we thought of a lot of things and took this call. His bowling is going well, like Ajit [Agarkar] said, we had to give players a chance, especially those who played just one game at the Asia Cup and are in the World Cup squad.

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"We have been looking at Kuldeep for the last one, one and a half years, this is why we don't want to expose him a lot. He is coming back for the last match. There are a lot of reasons. This is the best decision for us, to have him sit out for two games and play the third. We also have two practice matches [before the World Cup opener], so for the bowling rhythm, he will be back in it," added Rohit.

Kuldeep recently won the Player of the Series award at India's triumphant Asia Cup 2023 campaign, taking nine wickets in five games. The wickets, however, came in only two Super Four games - a five-for against Pakistan and a four-for against Sri Lanka. The spinner's craft and skills, nonetheless, got him much admiration from all quarters of the game.

India, however, suffered a blow when Axar Patel - their third spinner in the World Cup squad - got injured in the last Super Four game against Bangladesh. Keeping in mind the injury situation, the selectors have called up veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the first two games of the Australia series. Notably, teams can change their squad for the World Cup till September 28 without permission from the ICC.

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Prashant Talreja

Prashant Talreja is an Assistant Editor at WION, specializing in sports: cricket, tennis, golf, football, etc. With over 10 years of experience in sports journalism, Talreja has pr...Read More