"He could have a huge role in 50-over cricket" - Ajit Agarkar happy with Kuldeep Yadav's return to the Indian side for the West Indies ODIs
Ajit Agarkar has expressed happiness about Kuldeep Yadav's return to Team India's ODI squad and believes the left-arm wrist-spinner could play a significant role in the format.
Yadav is among a host of changes in the Indian bowling department from the side that lost the ODI series in South Africa. While Avesh Khan and Ravi Bishnoi are the fresh faces in the Indian team for the ODI series against West Indies, Washington Sundar makes a return after recovering from COVID-19.
During a discussion on the Star Sports show Game Plan, Ajit Agarkar was asked whether the expected changes have been made in the Indian bowling department after the 3-0 defeat against the Proteas. He responded:
"The attempt is definitely there. There are a lot of changes, different bowlers are there. Personally, I am happy with Kuldeep Yadav's return to the team. I think he could have a huge role in 50-over cricket if his form is good because he has the ability to pick up wickets in the middle overs."
The former India pacer pointed out that Team India need to groom backups for Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Ajit Agarkar said:
"In fast bowling, of course, we have Bumrah and Shami for sure, we don't know how the fitness and form will be in one to one-and-a-half years, but we need backups at the moment."
I just like the pace bowling line up of ODI cricket. Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna & Avesh Khan. This unit has got some serious pace and terrific fire in them. Hopefully they gets some success this tour. #INDvWI
Apart from Avesh Khan, the Indian seam bowling lineup for the ODI series against West Indies comprises Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.
"Hopefully Deepak Chahar will get the opportunity to play all three games" - Ajit Agarkar
Ajit Agarkar hopes Deepak Chahar is given adequate opportunities to prove himself in the absence of the underperforming Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He elaborated:
"We saw Bhuvneshwar Kumar, his form was slightly up and down. Hopefully Deepak Chahar will get the opportunity to play all three games in this series and the more opportunities you can give to the players, you will get to know who fits in your scheme of things."
Rahul Dravid said "Deepak Chahar has shown his batting ability whenever he got the opportunity - he has got the good ability as well, I have seen him for India A matches as well - it's good to have players like Deepak, Thakur in the side - we would like to give them more games".
The 44-year-old concluded by highlighting that the chances given to individual bowlers will govern the makeup of the side for next year's ODI World Cup. Ajit Agarkar stated:
"The thinking or the effort is good. We will have to see how many opportunities each player gets in the next one to one-and-a-half years. From that, you will probably come to know how easy it is to pick the team."
With the 2023 ODI World Cup to be played in India, Team India will want to beef up their spin-bowling resources. They will also hope to have a potent seam-bowling lineup that could do the job both with the new ball and at the death.