Kuldeep Yadav Is Good Young Talent And Difficult To Pick: Steve Smith

In his short stint in international cricket, Kuldeep Yadav has made quite a name for himself. While the first choice spinners might be Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal in the line-up, in a five-match series, Kuldeep will get his opportunity, especially with India bending more towards rotating their players with an eye on the 2019 World Cup. The chinaman bowler hailing from Kanpur turned the Dharamsala Test against the same opponents earlier this year in his debut Test. While most of the Aussies failed to pick his wrong one, Kuldeep will be aware of that fact and will be licking his fingers to bowl at some of the Aussies who are traditionally not great players of spin.

Wary of the threat posed by Kuldeep Yadav, Australian captain Steve Smith said the Indian left-arm wrist spinner is difficult to pick and his side has put in extra effort at the nets to prepare for him.

Kuldeep took four wickets on his Test debut against Australia on a pace-friendly Dharamsala track earlier this year. He is expected to play a crucial role in the ODI series against the same team, starting tomorrow.

The visitors have got a similar type of bowler -- KK Jiyas -- at the nets to be ready for him. Jiyas is a former IPL teammate of Australian batsman Travis Head -- the franchise being Delhi Daredevils.

"He is a guy Sri (team consultant Sridharan Sriram) has organised to come down and bowl. They have got Kuldeep Yadav in their squad and he is likely to play. There is a chance to train against someone like that. There aren't too many in the world," Smith said ahead of the opening one-dayer.

"A few of the guys played against him in the IPL and he is a good young talent and can be difficult to pick at times. He is someone who you have to watch a little bit closely. Hopefully, we can put him under pressure early in his spell and try and take him for as many as we can," he said.

There is talk that the series could turn out to be a run feast, but Smith said he would wait to take a look at the pitches before assuming anything.

"We saw that the last time we came here in 2013 it was a run-fest where 350 was around par. It's difficult to say. Every ground is going to be different. I think it's about summing things up quickly at every ground. I couldn't tell you if it is going to be a run fest. It depends on the pitches," he said.

Smith has been a key member of the batting unit and has been hugely consistent since taking over as captain. In 41 matches at the helm in ODIs, he has 1,740 runs at an average of 51.18 with five hundreds and 10 fifties.

Asked if a lot depended on him, he said, "I think it's important for someone in the top four to go on and make a big score. I think we have the guys to do that. It's important in any country. We saw that the last time we came here in 2013 it was a run-fest where 350 was around par."

The team is blessed with a number of all-rounders, but the captain said the line-up would depend on the conditions. "We have got a spinning all-rounder, we've got all-rounders that take pace off the ball and things like that. We have got a few different options but we will go in with what we think is best for the conditions.

"We're not going to name our team today. We're going to have a look again tomorrow and see what we think is the best (XI). There is a bit of weather around, might be a bit of rain around tomorrow as well. Gives us a chance to have a look at that and then we will be able to name our XI for tomorrow," he said.

(With PTI Inputs)