"His role in the upcoming 50-over World Cup will also be extremely crucial" - Aakash Chopra lauds Kuldeep Yadav's spell in 3rd IND-WI T20I

Aakash Chopra believes Kuldeep Yadav will have a crucial role to play for India with the ball in the ODI World Cup later this year and the T20 World Cup next year.

Kuldeep registered figures of 3/28 in four overs as India restricted the West Indies to 159/5 in the third T20I in Guyana on Tuesday, August 8. The Men in Blue chased down the 160-run target with seven wickets and 13 deliveries to spare to reduce the deficit to 1-2 in the five-match series.

During a discussion on JioCinema, Chopra was asked whether Kuldeep Yadav's potent spell showed that his confidence is back, to which he replied:

"It is absolutely back and he is doing slightly different things. I am trying to think a liitle ahead. We are going to play the T20 World Cup in the West Indies itself. In these conditions, you will need a bowler who keeps you in the game by picking up wickets."

The former Indian opener added:

"The way T20 is played, it is important that you pick up wickets constantly. If you have a wicket-taking bowler, especially in the middle overs, he is gold dust. He is anyway doing well in ODIs, so his role in the upcoming 50-over World Cup will also be extremely crucial."

Chopra pointed out that batters can drive the game easily in the middle overs in ODI cricket. He added that the left-arm wrist-spinner has the requisite skills to flummox the batters and pick up wickets in the 50-over format.

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"It was an important over" - Aakash Chopra on Kuldeep Yadav's dismissals of Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King

Kuldeep Yadav had Nicholas Pooran stumped by Sanju Samson.

Aakash Chopra was also asked whether the 15th over bowled by Kuldeep Yadav, in which he dismissed Nicholas Pooran and Brandon King, was a game-changing moment, to which he responded:

"It was an important over because we have seen what Nicholas Pooran can do once he starts firing. Today also he played an amazing sweep as a right-hander and he dismissed that player. India didn't have too many options left other than Kuldeep from the spin-bowling perspective. Chahal had one over left and the rest was all pace."

The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that Pooran might have carted the Indian seamers all around the park had he not been dismissed. He explained:

"You were expecting that pace will come and trap Pooran. Pooran hits spin but let's not forget he is a West Indian. They will play medium pace better than how they play spin. The ball doesn't reverse swing here as it is only a 20-over game."

Chopra concluded by observing that India might have had to chase 175 instead of 160 had Pooran batted a little while longer. He acknowledged that it might seem that the visitors would have successfully chased 175 as well but added that those additional 15 runs can prove to be a massive difference at times.