Hyderabad: Team India's chinaman Kuldeep Yadav on Friday was ruled out of the third Test against South Africa scheduled to be played in Ranchi from October 19.
Kuldeep, who sat out of the first two Tests, complained of left shoulder pain and extent of his injury is still unknown as he was replaced by Shahbaz Nadeem.
Interestingly, if Kuldeep fails to achieve fitness in time or aggravates his injury, the 24-year-old will be forced to miss the upcoming home series against Bangladesh, which consists of three T20I's followed by two Tests and is scheduled to begin from November 3.
File image of Kuldeep Yadav It should be noted that in the last couple of months, Kuldeep has not had much to do.
- The chinaman who was branded as India’s trump card in the 2019 World Cup, was an utter failure bagging only six wickets in seven matches. Since then Kuldeep only played the ODIs in the West Indies in August, while the spinner was on the bench for both the Tests.
- He was also sidelined from two Twenty 20 series against the West Indies and South Africa with India trying out youngsters in the lead up to the T20 World Cup next year.
- Kuldeep remains part of the Test squad but has not got a game this season with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja doing the job rather well in the ongoing series against South Africa.
Also, Kuldeep can find it hard to find his place in the shorter format with the resurgence of Jadeja, who has been often termed as ‘the dependable all-rounder'.
Kuldeep started his journey in international cricket with a four-wicket haul against Australia in a Test match in March 2017 and it did not take him long to cement his place in the side in all three formats.
But, as of now Kuldeep is struggling to find his place in playing XI in all the three formats and if the situation remains same then the young spinner will soon find himself warming bench for most of the time, which can ultimately force Indian selectors to sideline Kuldeep from their plans for the ICC T20 World Cup 2020, scheduled to be held in Australia.
