Former Indian batter and analyst Mohammad Kaif slammed the Indian team management for not including the veteran wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, but prioritised their batting depth instead in the fourth T20I against the West Indies in Hyderabad on Wednesday, October 14.
In the first innings, the West Indies posted a daunting total of 247/3 in 20 overs. Shai Hope’s unbeaten 102 off 50 with four fours and nine sixes at a strike rate of 204 was the turning point for the visitors. In the chase, India could score 223 in 19.3 overs. Sanju Samson (56), Tilak Varma (43) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (41) shone, but their knocks weren’t enough for the hosts.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Kaif asserted that India should have gone ahead with an additional spinner in Kuldeep, adding that Rashid Khan had an excellent record on this surface in the IPL. He added that India should have dropped a batter and included Kuldeep.
“Having batting till No.8 is not bravery. Bravery is playing your proper bowlers on a good batting wicket. A brave call is one where you pick seven batters and five proper bowlers, including Axar Patel as the all-rounder. Bravery is not allowing the opposition to score 250 and then saying we’ll chase it down. If you actually play with five main bowlers, you won’t need to chase so many. The flatter the conditions, the more specialist bowlers should play,” Kaif said on Cricbuzz.
“I would have played Kuldeep Yadav. Rashid Khan made a name for himself on this Hyderabad track only. The top 4 in the ICC rankings are all leg-spinners. So on a flat track, Kuldeep Yadav would have been even more useful. Just the change of pace and the extra bounce from the Hyderabad pitch would have assisted him. India could have easily dropped a batter and picked another bowler,” he added.
The fifth and final T20I will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, October 17.
