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Former India off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has come out in strong criticism of the Indian team management's handling of spinner Kuldeep Yadav in recent months. He went as far as to describe it as "bizarre" and highlighted that he had previously been quite successful when the management of Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma had shown faith in him.

Kuldeep was once of the most potent spinning options when Rahul Dravid was at the helm as head coach. He had participated in 6 Tests, 38 ODIs and 17 T20Is under Dravid as head coach, while has participated in 6 Tests, 17 ODIs and 14 T20Is under head coach Gautam Gambhir. His role in the limited-overs set-up however has increasingly been under the scanner since Gambhir's appointment.

The left-arm wrist-spinner endured disappointment at the T20 World Cup in 2026 where he featured in only a single game with the team management opting for Varun Chakravarthy, while has since missed out on India's T20I squad for upcoming tours of Ireland and England with Ravi Bishnoi being selected over him.

Ashwin said : 

"The way Kuldeep Yadav has been handled is bizarre. Kuldeep, when the last team management was around with Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma he was well backed and everybody saw the proof in the pudding because he was delivering match winning performances. But again in the last 18 months Kuldeep finds himself with a lot of question marks."

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While defending the bowler Ashwin also made an admission that his 2026 Indian Premier League campaign was far from his best. Playing for Delhi Capitals he picked just 10 wickets and was found to be the spinner with a career highest economy of 10.30.

The 30-year old wrist-spinner is however still a part of India's Test plans and has been included in the playing eleven for the ongoing one-off Test against Afghanistan.

It is believed that the 30-year old spinner must focus on making the most out of his opportunities in the longest form of the game:

"Test cricket must now be his priority, and he must take it on."

The fact that Ravi Bishnoi was picked in India's squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 squad and then was preferred for the series against New Zealand pre-tournament ahead of Kuldeep in the previous set up surprised many.

Bishnoi featured in just 9 games for Rajasthan Royals in the 2026 IPL picking up 11 wickets at a rather decent economy rate of 9.88 before losing his place in the side.