India’s ODI series defeat against New Zealand has raised fresh concerns, and now Kuldeep Yadav faces serious scrutiny ahead of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Ravichandran Ashwin fears that the New Zealand series may have affected Kuldeep Yadav’s confidence at a very crucial time.
Kuldeep Yadav is under pressure after New Zealand series
Kuldeep Yadav, considered one of India’s best wrist spinners, had a very poor series with the ball. In the three-match ODI series, the 31-year-old managed to take only three wickets at an average of 60.66 and 7.28 runs per over against New Zealand at home.
These figures clearly show that they had to struggle to control the Kiwi batsmen. New Zealand’s batting approach played a big role in Kuldeep’s struggles. Instead of playing defensively, the Kiwi batsmen decided to attack India’s spinners from the beginning.
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Due to this aggressive mentality, Kuldeep Yadav came under pressure and he could not regain his rhythm. The wrist spinner’s struggles were one of the major reasons behind India’s 1-2 defeat against the Black Caps. The defeat was all the more painful, as it was India’s first home ODI series defeat to New Zealand.
Aggressive Kiwi batting exposed Kuldeep
After the ODI series, Ashwin told how such a series can affect a bowler mentally. However, the former Indian off-spinner believes that Kuldeep has all the skills and variations required to succeed at the highest level but feels that the wrist spinner needs to be more flexible with his plans.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel, “New Zealand’s batsmen took a proactive approach against the Indian spinners and took them out immediately. Kuldeep Yadav is one of the best bowlers. He has all the tools. But his confidence may have gone down a bit before the T20 World Cup.”
Ravichandran Ashwin’s important suggestions to Kuldeep
The former Indian all-rounder believes that when a batsman like Daryl Mitchell was dominating and wickets were not falling, Kuldeep should have tried different ideas. Mitchell showed clear scoring areas and continued the attack, yet Kuldeep stuck to the same line and length in all three matches.
Ashwin believes that India suffered a lot due to lack of experimentation. Kuldeep and the Indian cricket team had no answer to Mitchell, who completely dominated the ODI series. He finished as the highest run-scorer with 352 runs at an extraordinary average of 176 and strike rate of 110.34.
He further said, “My only request to Kuldeep Yadav would be to experiment a little more. When a batsman is batting well and Daryl Mitchell is against you, and wickets are not falling, then we have to play. His wagon wheel will not show you any runs on the off side because of the closed bottom hand. I am worried that Kuldeep did not do that in all three ODIs.”
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Ravindra Jadeja’s wicketless series and India’s batting concerns vs Jayden Lennox
The former Indian off-spinner also expressed concern about Ravindra Jadeja. While Kuldeep was expensive, Jadeja did not get any wicket in all three matches. Ashwin believes that both the Indian spinners are now in a position where they have to expand their game and think differently to trouble the modern batsmen.
He said, “Many people watched the bowling of Jayden Lennox and criticized the bowling of Jadeja and Kuldeep. Yes, both are in a position where they have to expand their game. Both the Indian spinners can be a little more creative.”
Ashwin also expressed disappointment over India’s batting against New Zealand’s young spinner Jayden Lennox. The Indian batsmen struggled to attack him and allowed him to bowl comfortably. He pointed out that only Harshit Rana showed intent by using his legs and hitting a six off Lennox.
