Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has questioned the team management for their handling of Kuldeep Yadav after the wrist spinner was not included for the UK tour. Yadav didn’t have a great IPL 2026 for Delhi Capitals and Ashwin reckons it didn’t help him.

Yadav scalped 10 wickets in 11 innings in IPL 2026 at an average of 38.10 and an economy rate of 10.29. Furthermore, Yadav was not part of India’s T20 World Cup squad. The wrist spinner also went wicketless in the first innings of the one-off Test match against Afghanistan.

Ashwin said on ESPN Cricinfo, “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 everyone saw the proof in the pudding as he was delivering match-winning performances. But again in the last 18 months, Kuldeep finds himself with a lot of question marks. He didn’t have a great IPL, which didn’t help his cause much.”

Ashwin is hopeful that Kuldeep can deliver consistent performances in Test cricket to keep himself going.

“Hopefully, he can deliver great Test performances to keep that part of his cricket going. Because in Indian cricket, things can unravel very fast if you are out of form for any length of time. Test cricket must now be his priority, and he must take it on.”

On the other hand, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi was included in India’s squad for the UK tour but Ashwin reckons the RR spinner often misses his length.

“Ravi Bishnoi was the No.1 T20 bowler when he lost his place. So what goes around comes around. He didn’t have a great IPL, and on the back of not playing the back half of the IPL, he is back in the T20 setup. These are circular calls in many ways. But version 2.0 of Ravi Bishnoi needs to turn up because he misses his length way too much now than he must, and he must rediscover his mojo,” said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).

India will play two T20Is against Ireland and five T20Is against England.