Why India should prefer Kuldeep over Ashwin and Jadeja for the Adelaide Test

Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough has said in a recent interview that the pitch for first India vs Australia Test is going to be pace-friendly. He has left some grass on the pitch which should definitely excite the fast bowlers from both the teams.

What this has also done is that if India were entertaining any thoughts of going with two front-line spinners, they will have to reconsider that and in all probability, will go with just one spinner. For Australia, the decision is a clear-cut one. Nathan Lyon is by far their best spinner and there is no uncertainty over his inclusion in the playing eleven.

However, the Indian think-tank must seriously ponder over the three spin options they have in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. For long, Ashwin has been India’s top spinner in Test matches. Even though his record overseas has not been that great, he has continued to be the first preference. However, his below-par performance in the two most recent overseas tours to South Africa and England should be a crucial factor in deciding his case for inclusion in the first Test.

Ashwin is the No.1 spinner in the side but will he make it to the starting XI?

Ravindra Jadeja has been more than handy in Test matches as a spinner. But in overseas tours, he has mostly been warming the bench with Ashwin filling up the sole spinner’s slot in the playing eleven. He, of course, did admirably well in the fifth Test in England when Ashwin was ruled out due to injury.

Jadeja’s ability with the bat is an added incentive for his inclusion in the playing eleven. However, he is a bowler with limited abilities. He can be economical and even devastating on some of the subcontinental dustbowls. But on an Adelaide Oval pitch which may not be spin-friendly, he certainly won’t be a wicket-taking option.

This is where the Indian think tank must seriously consider including Kuldeep Yadav in the playing eleven. He has been in top form in the limited over formats and has continued that form in the T20 series against Australia. Most of the Australian batsmen could not read his wrong-uns.

One argument that goes against his inclusion is his failure to replicate his limited over form in the test format in England. He had done quite well in the limited overs format in England, especially in the T20Is, and thus forced his way into the Test side. But Root and co. tore him apart in the only Test he got to play in, there.

However, the scenario is quite different here. The English batsmen, who were bamboozled by Kuldeep in the very first T20I they played against India, got enough opportunity to play him in subsequent T20I and ODI matches. Thus, by the time they got to play him in the Test format, they had learnt how to deal with him. On the contrary, the Australians have not seen much of Kuldeep so far, and in whatever limited time they got, they have failed to read him.

Those failures may mess with the psyche of many of the Australian batters from the T20Is who will play in the first Test. This is the right time to unleash a confident Kuldeep on a fragile Australian batting order, who are traditionally suspect against quality wrist spin.