One of India’s most confusing questions in limited-overs - Kul or Cha

Rightly so, both of them have had a great start to their International careers, being pushed to the depth against stronger opposition both at home and abroad. Before the 2019 Cricket World Cup, the duo called as ‘KulCha’ existed together in the recipe of Indian cricketing masterclass but since the infamous encounter against England, only one of the two have made the cut over the other in the playing XI. That incidentally and strangely put a certain kind of notion and preconceived judgment on people’s heads, especially Indians fans that Kuldeep Yadav is more suited to the ODI format while Yuzvendra Chahal has been seen as a T20 head. 

In T20s

In 21 games in the Indian blue jersey, the UP spinner has 39 wickets to his name, at an average of 13.76, which is just second best to Rashid Khan across the world as even the likes of Mitchell Santner has fallen short. In comparison, Yuzvendra Chahal is nowhere close to his competitors, at an average of 26.47 since Kuldeep’s debut. However, what has worked in Chahal’s favour though has been his remarkable consistency across the T20 calendar. Bowling for the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy, the conventional leg-spinner has the best stats at the venue. In IPL, the Haryana leggie averages 23.18 at an economy rate of 7.78, striking every 17.87th delivery. But more impressive is his control over the ones that look ordinary, which has made him a go-to-bowler for Virat Kohli. 

Nothing dramatic changes in the 50-over format, still remaining in favour of the Haryana spinner in all fronts statistically. For the Indian outfit, Chahal has of-course turned up more time than often in comparison to Kuldeep for a strong reason. The RCB spinner is more effective, affordable and a go-to-option alongside Ravindra Jadeja. Whilst it would be too big an ask for Ravindra Jadeja to be paired with the Kanpur spinner, owing to their obvious weakness of leaking runs which might tilt the game away from the men in blue. 

Kuldeep steals the thunder

Virat Kohli has made it bold and clear, a bit like all the keyboard warriors and influencers on the social media do with all their words in capital letters that RAVINDRA JADEJA IS THERE TO STAY. That immediately eliminated the pairing of KulCha together in any encounter across all formats. Then, that leaves Kohli and the Indian management with the most difficult question- Kuldeep or Chahal?

Both of them have a few things in common, the experience of playing away from home but only one has a superior eye over the other. The 25-year-old’s numbers are just incredible, even if we take off the narrative shades from all our eyes. He’s right there, up at the top alongside the likes of Rashid Khan and Mitchell Santer with both of them being rated so highly. In New Zealand, a condition where peculiarly he has been favoured over Kuldeep until now. 

The Kuldeep-o-meter certainly has seen that the UP spinner plays exceptionally well in alien conditions, against gigantic opposition in the shortest format. That is exactly what has helped the management retain their trust in the youngster, despite his horrendous last season in the IPL, where he turned up and disappeared at the same time. If you look keenly, it is not the battle between Kuldeep and Chahal for being India’s better spinner but more of battle which would determine who is more suitable to his bowling attack. 

His variations and the ability to confuse the batsman left, right and centre and his stunning numbers in Australia surely point out that he would stand in as No.1 spinner in the reckoning for the World Cup Down Under. At the moment, while the Chahal board is blowing their horns in the right direction, Kuldeep certainly knows that Kohli might come in calling for his services if and when the T20 World Cup is around the corner for the simplest of facts, him being an X factor.