Kuldeep Yadav has been in red-hot form these days. The 30-year-old spinner from Kanpur finished as India’s highest wicket-taker in the Asia Cup 2025 (17 wickets in seven matches) and in the West Indies Test series (12 wickets in 2 matches) as well. But despite his good performances with the ball in the last couple of months, Kuldeep was not included in India’s playing XI for the first ODI against the Australian team in Perth on Sunday (October 19). In his place, Indian team management included two spin-bowling all-rounders – Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, one fast-bowling all-rounder – Nitish Kumar Reddy, and three pacers – Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh – who managed to dismiss only three Aussie batters.
Indian team management’s decision to leave Kuldeep out irked many fans and former greats of the game, and after the Indian team went down by 7 wickets in the series opener, former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slammed Kuldeep’s snub.
According to him, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir should equally focus on the bowling unit as well and chop his obsession of playing all-rounders for batting depth.
“I can understand why there are two spinners playing in the team, along with Nitish Reddy. They want that batting depth, because Axar and Washington can bat, but bowling ke upar bhi thoda dhayan dedo yaar (concentrate on bowling as well). In these big grounds, if Kuldeep can’t bowl with a lot of freedom, then where will he play? And there will be overspin, which will get him more bounce,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“See, I understand that they will talk about this batting depth, but if that is going to help you win games, then batters should be able to take the responsibility. If they are playing extra batters, then they are again shielding the batting line-up. I will always say, play your best bowlers. Don’t pick a player only because you want to extend your batting. Kitne all-rounders chaiye aapko (How many all-rounders do you want)? You already have three. Even after having Nitish in the side, if you can’t play your best bowlers, then I can’t get it at all,” he added.
