Ganguly sends blunt message to Gill, Gambhir after Kuldeep is overlooked for England Tests: 'Without quality spin...'

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly gave current skipper Shubman Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir a reminder of Kuldeep Yadav’s value after the left-arm wrist spinner was sidelined for the entirety of the five-match Test series in England.

Kuldeep was relegated to the bench for the fifth time in as many games despite India making four changes to their XI for the series finale at The Oval , with captain Gill and coach Gambhir opting to stick with all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar as their spin options.

“I think England went with four fast bowlers. They left a bit of grass on the wicket — I’m presuming that was deliberate. India have had quality spinners like Jadeja and Ashwin in the past. I really wish Kuldeep had played in Manchester, at Lord’s, and even in Birmingham. Without quality spin, it’s hard to bowl a team out on Day 5,” former BCCI president Ganguly told reporters at an event in Kolkata on Thursday.

Ganguly, incidentally, isn’t the only former Indian cricketer batting in favour of Kuldeep’s inclusion in England; batting icon Sunil Gavaskar as well as spin legends Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh too had made similar statements recently, with Harbhajan having called for his inclusion from the series opener at Headingley.

Kuldeep ‘crucial for India’s future’, says Ganguly

‘Dada’, for one, felt the 30-year-old is someone who is “crucial” for India’s future and needs to be persisted with.

“We saw what happened when India batted — there wasn’t a top-class spinner in England’s attack, and they couldn’t take wickets. In the past, teams had great spinners — whether it was Warne, Muralitharan, England’s Swann and Panesar, or even our own Harbhajan and Kumble. Kuldeep is someone India must persist with. He’s crucial for our future,” he added.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant sat out of the final Test at The Oval due to workload management and a foot fracture respectively, while all-rounder Shardul Thakur and pacer Anshul Kamboj were benched.

The visitors brought Dhruv Jurel, Karun Nair, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna in their place , with Akash returning to action after missing the fourth Test in Manchester due to fitness issues.

Nair, meanwhile, returns to the lineup after being left out of the XI at Old Trafford , and possibly has a final shot at saving his place in the Test team, having made his comeback after an eight-year absence earlier in the ongoing series.

England captain Ollie Pope, filling in for the injured Ben Stokes, opted to field after India lost the toss for the 15th consecutive time in international cricket.