Asia Cup 2025: Kuldeep Yadav to be Team India's 'Trump Card', says Ravi Shastri

Team India Trump Card: Ravi Shastri believes that Kuldeep Yadav (Kuldeep Yadav) will be a key player for India in the Asia Cup 2025. He stated that the team management should play Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and Axar Patel together.

Team India's Trump Card in Asia Cup: Kuldeep Yadav, a chinaman spinner, could prove to be India's 'trump card' on the spin-friendly pitches of the UAE in the Asia Cup 2025. Former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has also supported the inclusion of Kuldeep Yadav in India's playing eleven for the Asia Cup 2025. This spinner from Uttar Pradesh, who sat on the bench during the India vs England Test series, has returned to the T20 team for the eight-nation tournament. However, the question remains whether Suryakumar Yadav will field both specialist spinners, Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy, together? Shastri says there's no doubt about it.

'Kuldeep will be crucial for Team India in the Asia Cup'

In a conversation with TOI, Ravi Shastri said that Kuldeep is at the peak of his career and claimed that he will be a crucial player for Team India. It is noteworthy that in IPL 2025, Kuldeep Yadav took 15 wickets in 13 matches. Despite this, he was often dropped from the playing eleven.

'Kuldeep is currently at his peak'

Shastri said that if you have two wrist spinners of that calibre, I would definitely include them in my team. I think Kuldeep is at his peak right now. He performed very well in the IPL, but unfortunately, due to India's strong team and circumstances, he couldn't make it to the team for the Test matches in England. In the Asia Cup and beyond, he will play a crucial role in the team alongside Varun and Axar.

Last T20 match played in the 2024 T20 World Cup

Kuldeep last played a T20 International match in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 against South Africa. After that, he played in the Test series against New Zealand, where he suffered an injury and was out for months. After this, the spinner returned to the shortest format of the game in IPL 2025. Kuldeep has 69 wickets in T20 International matches.

Fielding two spinners would be the right approach

It is noteworthy that in the final of the UAE Tri-Series, the Pakistan team also fielded two spinners and a spin all-rounder and registered a resounding 75-run victory against Afghanistan. In this match, spinner Mohammad Nawaz took a five-wicket haul, while spinner Sufyan Muqeem took two wickets. That is, seven wickets were taken by spinners. Therefore, fielding two spinners on the spin-friendly wickets of the UAE would be a good option.