‘I won’t even consider Kuldeep Yadav in India's XI…': Lord's brings a complete U-turn as Gill, Gambhir get new message

Debate surrounds Kuldeep Yadav's spot in India's XI for the Lord's Test against England. Former India players highlight the pitch's suitability for pacers.

There was a lot of hue and cry from cricket experts across the globe when India did not include Kuldeep Yadav in their XI for the second Test against England at Edgbaston, especially after they had decided to rest their No. 1 bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, due to workload management. But the same emotion is unlikely to be repeated in the third Test at Lord's if Kuldeep doesn't make it to the Indian XI again.

India's Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav (R) (AFP)

There are two reasons for that. Firstly, despite a truckload of criticism from a host of former cricketers, including Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Mike Atherton, Dale Steyn and Tom Moody, for their choice of XI, India won at Edgbaston and that too by 336 runs. Secondly, the pitch at Lord's generally suits fast bowlers and it is unlikely to be anything different as England head coach Brendon McCullum has already asked for more spice from the curator.

Former India cricketers Varun Aaron, Parthiv Patel and Deep Dasgupta shared contrasting views on Kuldeep Yadav's inclusion in the Indian XI for the third Test.

'Won't consider Kuldeep Yadav at Lord's'

Varun Aaron said he would not even consider Kuldeep at Lord's because the venue suits fast bowlers more. "Not at all, I wouldn't consider an extra spinner at Lord's. We all know. The numbers say it all. Mostly fast bowlers take wickets at Lord's," Aaron said on JioHotstar.

Over the years, only four spinners have taken more than 30 wickets at Lord's, while as many as 16 pacers have done that at this venue. Fast bowlers average 28.83 in 148 Tests at Lord's for their 3229 wickets. Spinners, on the other hand, have not even taken one-third of the wickets taken by pacers. Among visiting pacers, Glenn McGrath and Richard Hadlee have taken 26 wickets each in just three and four Tests, respectively. The last two times that India won at Lord's, it was pacers Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah doing all the damage.

Former India keeper-batter Parthiv Patel said he would keep Kuldeep, who went wicketless in nine overs in his only Test in England at Lord's in 2018, in the XI. "It will depend upon the conditions, but I would definitely like to see Kuldeep Yadav in this Indian Playing XI. Bumrah and Kuldeep would be outstanding additions to this Indian unit," Parthiv said.

Deep Dasgupta sat on the fence when he was asked whether he would include Kuldeep in India's XI.

"Yes, Kuldeep can come into the XI. That's what you can hope for but it looks very difficult. I would definitely keep him in my XI, but I think it is difficult to fit him in because of what happened at Edgbaston. If Karun Nair had scored runs at No.3 or Nitish Reddy at No.6, then the think tank could have gotten the confidence to drop a batter to play an extra spinner. So yeah, as much as I'd want him in my side, it looks difficult," he said.