Deep Dasgupta surprised at Kuldeep Yadav’s exclusion from Test squad: We must back him

Former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta said he is surprised over Kuldeep Yadav’s omission from the Test tour of England and stressed that we must back the KKR spinner as he has a very unique skill set.

Earlier, BCCI announced India’s squad for an almost 3-month long England tour which will begin with the WTC final against New Zealand from June 18 in Southampton. Kuldeep Yadav was one of the major missing names in the 20-member squad led by Virat Kohli.

Notably, Kuldeep has been travelling with the Indian squad but not getting enough game time as he did not feature in a single Test match in Australia. In the 4-Test home series against England, Kuldeep Yadav got only a match to play and Shahbaz Nadeem and then Axar Patel was preferred ahead of him. The 26-year-old found no luck in the now-postponed IPL 2021 where he warmed the bench throughout.

“With Kuldeep, I am a little surprised (not picked for England tour). Because a year ago, he was the No. 1 spinner. Within a year, he is not on the contract list. He is not there on any side. He might be there in the side for Sri Lanka. But I am a little surprised. Obviously, his arc has gone down, his performances have gone down. I still believe that his skill set is very unique. And we need to keep investing in him,” Dasgupta told Sports Today.

Deep Dasgupta, speaking to Sports Today, said that he understands that Kuldeep’s exclusion was because of his recent performances.

“I understand why he is not on the side, because of his performance. I still believe he is young. He has a lot of cricket left in him and he should not be left in the lurch, let to be on his own. We must back him. I hope so (he gets picked for the Sri Lanka tour). On the white-ball side, obviously someone like Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar and Kuldeep… they should all be there,” Dasgupta added.