5 min readUpdated: Jul 23, 2026 01:02 PM IST
Not long ago, Kuldeep Yadav was India’s go-to wicket-taker in the middle overs, the bowler trusted to break partnerships when matches threatened to drift away. Yet on the recent Ireland and England tour, the left-arm wrist spinner did not play a single game, raising fresh questions about where he stands in India’s white-ball plans.
Now, in a bid to get some game time, the 31-year-old has signed a county deal with Yorkshire, where he is set to play both white-ball and red-ball cricket over the rest of the English season.
Former India spinner Maninder Singh believes Kuldeep’s absence has less to do with fading skills than fading confidence, saying prolonged spells on the bench have eroded the belief that makes him a wicket-taking threat.
“Sometimes your wicket-taking ability can go down if the team management is not showing confidence. I think he still has it in him. It’s just that if you keep him on the bench all the time and don’t give him chances to play, you don’t give him confidence,” Maninder told The Indian Express.
“There are some cricketers you need to keep talking to all the time. If you are not only keeping him out of the scheme of things but not even thinking of playing him in the first eleven, then these kinds of problems are going to come. Because a bowler of his calibre, who was getting you wickets in the middle overs, suddenly starts going down, there has to be a reason for it. And the reason, I feel, is that he is not getting enough confidence from the team management.”
“That is the only problem. Everything else is the same. He used to bowl a little slower through the air a couple of years ago, but he has worked hard on it. Good follow-through. Using his shoulder well. Using his body well. The only problem at the minute is that he needs confidence. If you keep taking his confidence away, then you start talking about release position, ball drift and everything else, which is secondary. If you give that man the confidence a cricketer requires, you will see him back among the wickets,” he added.
Maninder was equally pointed on India’s selection philosophy, saying the team’s increasing preference for all-rounders has come at the expense of genuine match-winners, and that Kuldeep has paid the price for the team wanting more batting depth.
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“I am getting a little surprised with the way the teams are being selected. We are trying to have that cushion where we are extending our batting till number eight.”
“We are playing too many all-rounders. In white-ball cricket, all-rounders play a very important role. But at the cost of a match-winner, you cannot keep playing all-rounders just because you think they are going to give you performances. I would rather have a bowler who gets you wickets in the middle overs and keeps you in the game.”
Bishnoi is one of two spin options India have for the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe starting on Thursday (BCCI/Creimas Photo)
“The definition of an all-rounder in India has changed. Now it means someone who can do a bit of batting, a bit of bowling and a bit of fielding. Whereas my understanding of an all-rounder was Kapil Dev, Manoj Prabhakar, Madan Lal and Roger Binny – players who could win you games on their own with either the bat or the ball,” Maninder said.
He was sharper still on Ravi Bishnoi’s repeated no-balls during the second T20I against England at Manchester, saying the leg-spinner’s run-up was fundamentally flawed and should have been corrected well before match day.
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“He has to do a lot of work on his run up because you normally run straight to the stumps. He goes left, right, then left, then tries to come back to the crease, and that is where he is going wrong.”
“When he bowled those no-balls, I was just wondering what was the bowling coach doing with Ravi Bishnoi. Because obviously he was bowling in the nets also in the same way. Why wasn’t he stopped? That should be the first job of a bowling coach. So I really don’t understand why he wasn’t being corrected when he was bowling in the nets that way. Because these days in white-ball cricket, bowling a no-ball is a crime,” he added.
On a brighter note, Maninder felt the left-arm spinner Manav Suthar had the technical attributes to enjoy a long international career, saying the youngster looks “like a bowler for the future” after an impressive India Test debut against Afghanistan.
“Very impressive. He has got a beautiful run up, lovely action, nice follow-through. And the best thing is, when the ball comes out of the hand of a spinner, the seam position tells you how hard he has worked.”
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“He looks to me like a bowler for the future. To be very honest, I was expecting him to be in some team or the other, whether it’s T20 cricket or One-Day International cricket. I don’t think he will have to wait for too long because he is a good bowler, technically very sound, and I think mentally he is ready for international cricket,” he said.
India vs Zimbabwe T20I series will be streamed on FanCode.
