Kuldeep Yadav – The luxury India have rarely allowed themselves

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Kuldeep Yadav – The luxury India have rarely allowed themselves

It's been six and a half years since Ravi Shastri made that bold proclamation. "Going ahead, if we have to play one spinner, he is the one we will pick," he told Cricbuzz after Kuldeep Yadav's five-wicket haul at the Sydney Cricket Ground at the end of a momentous tour for India. That prophecy hasn't quite panned out.

Kuldeep averages 22.16 but has featured in just 13 matches in an eight-year-old Test career, is both befuddling and yet understandable. India have had R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – two generational spinners with batting pedigree – close to their peaks throughout this period.

Even here in England, even in a moment that seems made for him – India 1-0 down, a dry Edgbaston pitch in the offing – he may once again be passed over. If India do go with two spinners, the stronger contender, would appear to be Washington. He turns the ball the other way from Jadeja, promises control, can bat at No. 8 and off-spinners including Ashwin, Nathan Lyon and Moeen Ali have done well here in recent Tests.

It might be a fair call. But it doesn't stop the broader question from hanging: if not now for Kuldeep, then when?

This isn't a one-off. It's part of a larger, unfortunate pattern for Kuldeep, now 30 and wheeling away in the nets. And waiting. The dilemma is all too familiar: can India trade safety at No. 8 for the possibility of impact?

Think back to 2020, after the 36-all-out in Adelaide. Virat Kohli left on paternity leave, but India didn't pick a specialist batter to replace him. Instead, they brought in Jadeja and swapped 'keepers to get the one with better batting pedigree (Rishabh Pant). It was a move that required conviction, especially in the glare of the batting returns of the last innings.

Kuldeep offers what few others do – variety, drift, deception and a left-arm angle – qualities that gain even more value on flat surfaces. In last year's series between these sides, it was his injury-enforced inclusion in Vizag that helped India regain momentum. He finished the series with 19 wickets at 20.15, out-bowling even Ashwin and Jadeja.

Players like Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, who reverse-swept with impunity against finger spin in Hyderabad, found it harder to do so against a wrist spinner who could turn it both ways.