Maninder Singh says Kuldeep Yadav’s confidence has been shattered after lack of opportunities

Former Indian spinner Maninder Singh reckons Kuldeep Yadav’s confidence has been shattered after lack of opportunities. Kuldeep has not been included in the ongoing series against Zimbabwe and he will ply his trade for Yorkshire in the One-Day Cup and County Championship.

Surprisingly, Kuldeep Yadav was not given a single game in three-match ODI series against England. 

The spin duo of Washington Sundar and Axar Patel were picked ahead of Yadav in the first two ODIs but Yadav was not backed in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah in the third game. 

It is clear that the management is backing spin and seam-bowling all-rounders ahead of Yadav. Since July 2024, Kuldeep has featured in 38 games out of 103 matches across all formats for India.

Kuldeep has scalped 194 ODI wickets in 121 matches at an average of 27.05 and thus has an impressive record in the 50-over format.

“If you have a bowler like Kuldeep Yadav who gets you wickets, you have to give him confidence. In the past, I’ve seen that he’s not been given the confidence he really needed, and his confidence is probably shaken,” Maninder said as quoted by Sportstar.

“Sometimes what happens if the team management is not giving you confidence, you think that you have to do extra, try harder than what you’re doing, and you can struggle when you’re trying too hard to impress,” he elaborated.

The 61-year-old warned against dropping him, saying, “If you keep dropping him, in time his confidence is going to get shattered.”

Meanwhile, Indian batters had struggled to get going on bouncy wickets on England tour and Singh reckons the visitors would be determined to turn a corner against Zimbabwe.

“It’s going to be a good test for these youngsters who are getting an opportunity after struggling in England. Let’s hope that they’ve learned from the kind of mistakes that they’ve made in that series,” he said.

“Being mentally strong is very important. We’ll have to wait and see how these boys adjust to conditions like that.”

India won the opening game by seven wickets against Zimbabwe.