"One can feel bad for Kuldeep…" — R Ashwin slams Indian team management over bowling calls at Lord's

The former Indian spin all-rounder, Ravichandran Ashwin, has slammed the Indian team management for not picking the left-arm leg-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, in the playing eleven during the third ODI of the three-match series between England and India at Lord’s in London.

In a decider, the blue brigade was without their premier pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of the contest with an injury. Washington Sundar wasn’t available either for selection in the encounter, and the visitors decided to go with four pacers in the line-up.

R Ashwin questions why Kuldeep Yadav keeps getting benched despite Arshdeep batting at No. 8

India made three changes in the playing eleven for the Lord’s contest. Two of those were the inclusion of Prince Yadav and Arshdeep Singh coming into the eleven in place of Shivam Dube and Bumrah. That meant their batting was very thin in power and resources.

Ashwin accepted the fact of not playing Kuldeep Yadav in the eleven given the batting would end at number 7. However, he questioned how it would feel to have Arshdeep batting at number seven, especially when they were chasing.   

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“The only defence for not playing Kuldeep usually is that the batting finishes at number 7; wonder how it feels to have Arshdeep at number 8 today! Adding Bumrah’s absence to that, one can only feel bad for Kuldeep. Trust me, this can affect the rhythm and confidence of a bowler.” Ashwin wrote on his X account (formerly known as Twitter).

India's bowling attack toils as England pile up runs through Duckett and Bethell in the series decider

In the absence of Bumrah, India missed their X-factor with the new ball. They were poor with the line and length and couldn’t find rhythm inside the powerplay as Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell shared an opening stand of 192 runs, with the former smashing 141 runs off 135 balls.

Apart from Bethell’s 91 runs, Joe Root nailed an unbeaten 74 runs, while Jos Buttler remained unbeaten on 41 runs off just 13 balls. Prasidh Krishna ended up with figures of 2/69 in his 10 overs. Gurnoor Brar was smashed for 97 runs in his 10 overs without any success.

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The hosts posted 387 runs for the loss of three wickets in their allotted 50 overs. The lone spinner of the Indian attack, Axar Patel, gave away 61 runs in his 10 overs but didn’t get any wicket.

Fans back Ashwin's take as the debate over Kuldeep's exclusion goes viral

The fans were also disappointed with Ashwin’s take as the debate over Kuldeep’s exclusion went viral on social media platforms-