Mid-June in Beckenham, Kuldeep Yadav stood on the sidelines of India’s intra-squad practice game and squinted at the playing surface. He thought it looked good for spinners: dry, with just enough bite and some bounce to work with too.
He said as much in an informal press meet. A five-Test series against England was about to begin, and with no Ravichandran Ashwin in the squad, Kuldeep Yadav seemed to have allowed himself a little hope. The pitches, when the series began, were exactly that: dry, flat, crying out for something wild. India had the wild thing, but he never got a game.
It was not for lack of skill. Kuldeep Yadav had already reworked his bowling, straightened his run-up, made his rhythm more aggressive and stopped his hand from falling away. That journey of making himself a technically better, more sustainable bowler at the highest level was behind him. He had even won Tests at home with those changes, flipped series, showed the ability to deliver on demand even with Ashwin and Jadeja in the XI. But none of that was enough. Not when the question was balance.
Balance, that old cricketing black box of selection. When injuries didn’t keep him out, Kuldeep Yadav lost his spot to someone who could bat. India now like their allrounders, their finger spinners who could defend the red ball better and hit the white ball longer, even if their ceiling with the ball was lower. Flat tracks may demand magic, but team sheets rarely do.
That irony followed him to the Asia Cup. Few expected him to play here either. It was the start of the season, the pitches were fresh, unlike the tired track from the Champions Trophy earlier this year, and Shivam Dube was putting in the hours in the net session. To go with that, this Gautam Gambhir-coached side loves its allrounders. Kuldeep Yadav isn’t one. But they also love their spinners in limited-overs cricket, so in came Kuldeep Yadav at the cost of Arshdeep Singh.
Two matches into this Asia Cup, he has six wickets in 24 balls. Player of the Match against UAE. Player of the Match against Pakistan. His last T20I before thisThe World Cup final in Barbados. From the bench in England to the honours board in Dubai, this distance wasn’t covered in overs by Kuldeep Yadav . But time. And some of it must have been really frustrating.
In the match against UAE though, Kuldeep Yadav’s first for India since the Champions Trophy final in March, the rhythm was a non-issue. He started with a tight over before unleashing hell in his next. Rahul Chopra chanced his arms at a flighted delivery and was caught in the deep. Muhammad Waseem, the captain, then swept and missed. Lbw. Harshit Kaushik, younger and overeager, lunged at a wider googly and was bowled. Three wickets in the space of an over, three different dismissals, and the full range of wrist spin at play.
Against Pakistan, the field at one point of time told you the story. Slip, leg slip, silly mid-on, with Kuldeep on a hat-trick. Hasan Nawaz slogged and top-edged into Axar’s hands, and then, off the very next ball, Mohammad Nawaz trapped first ball by the googly. The ball had turned in too sharply, too quickly. He reviewed; three reds on the screen. Out. Kuldeep Yadav finally breaks silence on warming the bench during the five-Test series against England earlier this year.
The message was clear- Kuldeep Yadav reflects on England Test series
Kuldeep Yadav is in the form of his life, winning back-to-back Player of the Match accolades in the 2025 Men’s Asia Cup. In the two games against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Pakistan, Kuldeep Yadav returned with seven wickets, including a four-wicket haul in India’s tournament opener. This performance led to questions once again being raised about the left-arm spinner warming the bench for the entirety of the England tour, where India levelled the five-Test series at 2-2.
Throughout the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, pundits and fans kept asking for Kuldeep to start in the playing XI to give India the best possible chance of taking 20 wickets. However, it was to no avail as the Shubman Gill-led India opted to have batting depth and stick with bowlers who can bat a bit.
This theory was confirmed by Kuldeep ahead of the Asia Cup Group A match between India and Oman. However, the 30-year-old had no regrets, saying head coach Gautam Gambhir was straightforward with him about having batting depth, which was the reason behind his omission from the playing XI.
“The message was clear. There were times when I felt I could have played, but unfortunately, due to the need for batting depth or team combinations, I didn’t make it to the XI. Gautam Bhai was straightforward about it. It wasn’t about my skill or batting. It was more about the team composition and the conditions. I enjoyed my time and learned a lot,” Kuldeep Yadav told reporters on Thursday.
“When you’re not playing, you learn a lot by observing, which helps you become a better player. It’s easy to blame others, but it’s harder to accept your weaknesses and work on improving them,” he added.
Despite being part of the Indian team, Kuldeep Yadav made his first appearance in the Asia Cup since the Champions Trophy in March. He discussed the difficulties cricketers face when they are not playing regularly and shared how he used his time on the sidelines to work on improving himself.
“Challenges are always present, especially when you play your first game. Maintaining rhythm is crucial. When you play regularly, your rhythm stays intact, and you get a better sense of how to bowl, spend time on the field, and react. That’s something I felt was missing a bit,” Kuldeep Yadav mentioned.
“But for me, it was a great opportunity to work on myself, improve my fitness, and increase the volume of my bowling, which is really important. Then, I played in the Duleep Trophy match, where I didn’t take wickets but bowled 35 overs, which helped me get into a good rhythm. My focus wasn’t on overthinking; it was about sticking to my strengths and bowling in the right areas,” he concluded.
Kuldeep Yadav is currently the second-highest wicket-taker in the 2025 edition of the Asia Cup, only behind the UAE’s Junaid Siddique. India have already qualified for the Super 4s stage. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side will take on Oman on Friday in their final Group A game, and then the team will square off against Pakistan in their first match of the Super 4s stage.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: Aakash Chopra Expects Arshdeep Singh To Not Feature Against Pakistan