Kuldeep conundrum continues as India struggle to take 20 wickets

New Indian Express

2 days ago

The former South African pacer admitted the wicket in Manchester has been dry but for the sake of longer batting order, they have preferred all-rounders over the specialist spinner. "I do think at the end of the day you need runs on the board. For us, obviously giving that a little bit of extra batting protection, wanting to get totals of 400-plus, you need that against England, especially the way they play their brand of cricket. But to be honest, the wicket so far has been dry and it's actually spun a little bit. So that brings Washington into the game, it brings Jadeja into the game. So like I said, Kuldeep, we're trying to find a way for him, but it is just more consistent runs from our top six that we want so we can bring in a guy like Kuldeep in."
Jadeja, however, as a spin all-rounder has not been that effective especially in the English conditions. He has played 14 matches in England so far including the first innings of the Manchester Test and picked up 29 wickets at an average of 51.34, which is quite high in comparison to his career average of 24.93. In fact, his batting average is better in England. It's more than 41 in comparison to his overall average of around 37.
Even in the ongoing series, he is not the leading wicket taker among the spinners. Shoaib Bashir, who was ruled out of the Test series during the Lord's match, is leading the chart with 10 wickets from three matches. Jadeja, who has bowled one more innings than Bashir, has taken seven wickets so far with the last four coming in Manchester. His compatriot Washington Sundar too has claimed seven wickets from three matches till England's first innings.