Image Credit- BCCI
Is it Axar Patel or Kuldeep Yadav? Although they would
rather keep the opposition guessing, India knows who they want in their XI to
play the first of five Tests against England beginning on Thursday.
There are strong arguments for selecting each of the
players. On the eve of the match in Hyderabad, India captain Rohit Sharma
stated that Kuldeep possesses a “X-factor”. especially though Kuldeep
has only appeared in eight Test matches since making his debut in March 2017,
he has recently focused on improving his bowling and shown that he possesses
the one skill that India looks for in every bowler: the ability to keep the
stumps in play, especially in limited-overs cricket.
“Kuldeep gives you a certain X-factor with his
bowling,” Rohit said. “You’ve seen how well he’s been bowling of
late. Especially the wicket if it has bounce, or if it doesn’t have bounce,
Kuldeep becomes a factor in those types of conditions as well because he has
got superb variations.
“He is also a much more mature bowler now. He has
not played a lot of Test cricket in India because of [R] Ashwin and [Ravindra]
Jadeja clearly. But that is what happens. Like with our middle order, all of us
got an opportunity really late. But that’s the reality of it. You can’t hide
from it. But Kuldeep being the bowler he is now, from what he was a couple of
years back, he is much more improved and he is a very tempting option without a
doubt.”
He is back in the picture because Axar’s performance
in India’s most recent home series against Australia in February and March of
2023 wasn’t all that great. Despite bowling just 13 overs per match in the
first three Tests, Axar was one of the team’s top run scorers.
“Axar with his all-round ability, giving us that
batting depth, the consistency that he has shown playing in these conditions in
Test cricket also is an important factor for us,” Rohit said. “It was
a bit of a headache for us to decide who it was going to be. I’m not going to
say who it is but it was a challenge for us to make that decision. We know
we’ve got quality around our spin-bowling department, which is a good sign.
When you’ve got quality around your team, when there’s a headache to make your
playing XI, that’s a good sign.”