Michael Clarke, the former Australia captain, has publicly raised doubts about India's team management decision to omit Kuldeep Yadav from the last two T20 internationals against West Indies, stating he finds it difficult to understand why the left-arm wrist-spinner does not hold the top spinning berth in the side.
West Indies captain Shai Hope anchored a total of 247 for 3 against India in the fourth T20I, with the batting side posting runs at a rate that kept the home bowlers under sustained pressure throughout their spells. Chasing from the second position in the batting order, India spent much of their innings adjusting to the target rather than building momentum on their own terms.
At Ranchi in the second T20I, Kuldeep's figures of 1 for 53 stood in contrast to the 2 for 33 he had posted in the opening fixture, with West Indies reaching the 250-run target to complete a successful chase. Naman Dhir was handed a place in the playing XI alongside Axar Patel, who took on a second spin role for India, leaving Kuldeep outside the matchday squad. A faster-paced attacking lineup was the direction chosen by the team's management.
On the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, Clarke put forward the view that Kuldeep Yadav brings consistent wicket-taking value to a side, and raised the question of whether limited-overs teams place enough emphasis on taking opposition wickets, adding that he had expressed this position about the spinner on multiple occasions. Clarke argued that the team's approach amounted to passively allowing the opposition to post whatever total they liked, then targeting that number, rather than actively working to dismiss them.
Goswami, who represented India at Under-19 level and took part in the same podcast, echoed Clarke's position, arguing that Kuldeep should retain his place rather than make way for an additional batter. Goswami argued that omitting a spinner from the lineup could leave the side with fewer options for claiming wickets through the middle overs. He called on the team's management to include Kuldeep Yadav in the playing eleven for Saturday's series decider at Bengaluru, adding in a public appeal that the spinner deserved a place in the India lineup for that deciding match.
Kuldeep's omission from the team's starting spin-bowling lineup has drawn attention as a selection decision. Across T20 and ODI formats, a tendency toward conventional, risk-averse decision-making is observable among many captains, Clarke noted. Regardless of the format, Clarke said, Kuldeep's role centres on taking wickets and dismissing the opposing side.
Kuldeep featured in the opening T20I, taking two wickets and contributing to the team's effort. His outing in the second match did see runs conceded at a higher rate, yet his removal from the lineup — whether to accommodate an extra batter or bring in Naman Dhir, who offers off-spin bowling alongside his batting — has been characterised as a debatable proposition by those on the podcast. Goswami expressed the view that the player's participation in the series decider was warranted, adding that leaving him out risked forfeiting the ability to take wickets through the middle phase of an innings.
Across four outings in the series, Dhir's off-spin work yielded five wickets at a bowling average of 22.80. Across the five-match white-ball assignment against West Indies, Kuldeep gathered ten dismissals in total — seven of them coming from three ODI appearances, a run that included a four-wicket performance and placed him at the top of the wicket-takers' tally for that portion of the tour.
Across 56 T20 international appearances, Kuldeep's bowling tally stands at 98 dismissals, with each wicket costing 14.20 runs on average and his run flow held to 7.10 per over. Among his bowling achievements, three instances of four wickets in an innings and two of five wickets are on record, the latter peaking at a 5 for 17 return. Across six T20 internationals during 2025, his bowling tally stands at eight dismissals, with a strike rate reflecting an average of 25.75 runs per wicket, a run-flow of 9.36 per over, and a top return of 2 for 33.
With Saturday's series-deciding match at Bengaluru on the horizon, questions around Kuldeep's place in India's eleven for the West Indies fixture have generated noticeable pre-match discussion.
