Kuldeep Yadav has no mystery, but he is the best spinner: Aakash Chopra

Former India batter Aakash Chopra has hailed Kuldeep Yadav as the world’s best spinner in ODI cricket at the moment. Kuldeep has been in terrific form for India as the sole pure spinner in their Asia Cup squad. He is also part of the 15-member side selected for the upcoming World Cup. The left-arm spinner showcased his value in India’s first two Super Four matches - he picked up a 5-wicket haul against Pakistan and then followed it up with 4 wickets against Sri Lanka. Chopra spoke about the stats and said that Kuldeep ranked third as far as strike rate among spinners with at least 150 ODI wickets is concerned. Only Ajantha Mendis and Rashid Khan are above him. Ajantha Mendis has picked up 152 wickets in 84 innings, with an impressive strike rate of 27.3 while Rashid Khan has 172 wickets in 89 innings with a strike rate of 27.8. Kuldeep Yadav, in contrast, has picked up 150 wickets in 85 innings with a strike rate of 30.1. Chopra also pointed out that Kuldeep is successful despite not having the ‘mystery’ associated with Mendis and Rashid. He emphasised that Kuldeep relied on standard leg-spin and googly deliveries to outsmart his opponents. “I feel Kuldeep is the best spinner in the world at the moment. If you see Kuldeep Yadav’s numbers, you say he is a proper wicket-taker. We are talking about spinners who have taken 150 ODI wickets. Firstly, 150 wickets is a very good number, it is not a small sample size,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel. “He has taken only 85 innings to pick up 150 wickets. He has a strike rate of 30.1. He is special because he is orthodox. If you talk about Ajantha Mendis and Rashid Khan, they had or have mystery. This guy has no mystery. He bowls normal leg-spin and googly and traps you with that itself,” he added. The former right-hander also spoke about Saqlain Mushtaq, Imran Tahir and Saeed Ajmal, and said that there were only three other spinners to have picked up more than 150 wickets with a terrific strike rate. He did acknowledge the rarity of left-arm wrist-spinners, but praised Kuldeep Yadav’s achievements and said that he has set a very high standard for spinners in limited-overs cricket.