Deep Dasgupta Says Kuldeep Yadav Must Start Against Sri Lanka After Sitting Out England

Former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta has put Kuldeep Yadav at the centre of India's next selection debate, arguing on his YouTube channel that the left-arm wrist-spinner has to be in the playing XI for the Sri Lanka assignment after travelling through the recently finished white-ball series against England without bowling a ball in a match.

Dasgupta's line after an unused England tour

Dasgupta did not dress the point up as a soft preference. On his YouTube channel he said Kuldeep Yadav has to be in India's playing XI, tying the call to what he saw as a missed opportunity during the England white-ball leg that has just ended. Kuldeep was named in the squad for that series and remained available through the fixtures, yet he did not feature in any of the games.

The former India keeper said he expected Kuldeep to play the third ODI against England at Lord's, and that others around the squad conversation expected the same. Those making the team, he said, still left the wrist-spinner out. That sequence — selection into the touring party, public expectation for a late-series look, and a complete absence from the XI — is the backdrop for his sharper Sri Lanka demand.

The Indian Express Sports Desk carried the remarks on 2 August 2026 at 09:01 IST. The report places Dasgupta's comments in the current selection window rather than as a long-range career essay: India's next assignment is Sri Lanka, and the conditions, the article notes, offer something to a bowler of Kuldeep's type.

Why the Sri Lanka conditions change the argument

England's white-ball surfaces often reward seam variations, hard lengths and batting depth over long spells of slow bowling. Sri Lanka, by contrast, is the kind of assignment where wrist-spin and finger-spin can share the middle overs and the death in different ways. Dasgupta's case is not simply that Kuldeep is a good bowler in the abstract; it is that the next set of pitches and ball behaviours are more likely to suit the skill that went unused in England.

He also noted that the squad has been built with more spinners than seamers based on those conditions. In his reading, India could even play four spinners in a match, a balance Sri Lanka and other opponents have used before when the surface invites it. That observation matters because it reframes Kuldeep from a luxury option to a core piece of a spin-heavy attack rather than a fifth-bowler luxury on a seam-friendly day.

For captains and coaches, a four-spinner template usually means the XI is trying to control the middle phase with different release points and angles: finger-spin into the rough, wrist-spin across the right-hander, and an all-round spinner who can bat at seven or eight. Kuldeep's value in that mix is the wrong'un and the drift that force batters to re-read length every ball. Sitting him through an entire England series left that weapon untested in competitive overs just before a tour where those overs are more likely to decide matches.

Washington Sundar's injury and Sarvesh Jain's call-up

The squad conversation is not only about who sits on the bench. Washington Sundar is out of the Sri Lanka series because of injury, removing one of India's most flexible spin-bowling all-round options from the available pool. Sundar's absence is not a minor rotation note; it changes how the balance between batting depth and bowling overs can be built on match day.

In Sundar's place, veteran Ranji cricketer Sarvesh Jain has been called up. Dasgupta's broader reading of the squad was that it was largely along expected lines. He said he could not name anyone missing who should have been included, which is a quieter but important point: his disagreement is less with the touring party as named and more with how the XI might be chosen once the series begins.

That distinction is useful for anyone following selection news closely. A squad can look complete on paper and still leave a live debate about the first-choice eleven. Jain's elevation covers the injury gap in the group. Kuldeep's status, in Dasgupta's framing, is about whether the side that takes the field actually uses the spinner who was already in the England white-ball group and never given a game.

What the unused England series actually signals

Being in a squad and not playing can mean several different things: match-up caution, a preference for seam in English conditions, workload management, or a hierarchy that simply never opened a door. Dasgupta's comments do not invent a private dressing-room explanation. They do record a public expectation — including his own — that the third ODI at Lord's would be the natural moment to give Kuldeep a look, and that the call still went another way.

From a team-construction view, that leaves India carrying a specialist wrist-spinner whose most recent international overs are older than the just-finished series. For Sri Lanka, that is either a problem to fix by starting him early or a risk if the side continues to keep him as unused insurance. Dasgupta is clearly in the first camp.

It also shapes how opposition batters prepare. Sri Lanka's top order will plan for India's finger-spinners and seamers either way. A confirmed Kuldeep start forces an extra layer of left-arm wrist-spin rehearsal in the nets — a different release, a different googly angle, and a different fielding ring when the ball is drifting across the right-hander. Selection leaks into preparation as soon as the XI pattern becomes predictable.

Four spinners as a live option, not a slogan

Dasgupta's remark that India could play four spinners is easy to over-read as hyperbole. In context it is a conditions statement. When a squad is already weighted toward spin, and when the opponent and venue history support slow bowling, the XI can tilt further than a standard two-spinner template. Sri Lanka and other sides have done that before when the surface asked for it.

A four-spinner side still needs a new-ball plan and a death-overs plan. The practical question is whether Kuldeep is one of the four who actually bowl, or whether he remains the spare man while finger-spinners and seam-bowling all-rounders share the overs. Dasgupta's "has to be in the playing XI" answer collapses that ambiguity: he wants Kuldeep inside the eleven, not merely inside the wider group.

For fantasy users following the same selection window on MyTeam11, the distinction is concrete. A spinner named in the squad but not in the XI earns nothing. A spinner confirmed in a spin-heavy attack on a helpful surface becomes a high-leverage bowling option, especially if he bowls in the middle overs when wickets and economy both score. The Dasgupta comments do not confirm the final XI; they do mark Kuldeep as the name most loudly pushed into that conversation before the Sri Lanka series begins.

Squad calm versus XI urgency

One of the cleaner parts of Dasgupta's assessment is what he did not say. He did not claim the squad was missing a raft of names. He said it was largely along expected lines and that he could not point to someone left out who clearly should have been in. The heat in his comments is reserved for the playing XI decision around Kuldeep, not for a wholesale rejection of the group that has been assembled for Sri Lanka.

That keeps the story narrow and usable. The injury to Washington Sundar and the call-up of Sarvesh Jain are the confirmed personnel changes around the edges. The open argument is whether Kuldeep, already trusted enough to tour England without playing, is now trusted enough to start when the conditions tilt toward him.

Selectors can still choose differently once they see the first pitch report and the opposition batting lists. Nothing in Dasgupta's comments locks the XI. What they do is raise the cost of another unused series for a specialist who has just spent a full white-ball assignment in England watching from the dugout.

How fantasy captains should read the same news

Selection noise is only useful if it changes how teams are built. For the Sri Lanka series window, the practical checklist is short. Watch whether Kuldeep is named in the first XI of the assignment. Watch whether India actually lean into the spin-heavy balance Dasgupta described. And watch how Sundar's injury is covered in the all-rounder slot — Jain's presence in the squad is the named replacement path, but match-day roles can still shift among the remaining bowling options.

Until the toss sheets are out, Kuldeep remains a high-upside bowling differential rather than a locked captain choice. If he starts on a surface that offers grip, his ceiling rises quickly because wrist-spin wickets cluster in the middle overs where fantasy multipliers matter. If he is left out again after Dasgupta's public push, the signal is that the hierarchy from England has not moved, and ownership should move with that reality rather than with the column inches.

MyTeam11 contests for India bilateral fixtures lock before the toss, so the late team-sheet window is where this story becomes actionable. Track the confirmed XI, then decide whether Kuldeep is a core bowling pick, a differential, or a sit. The editorial argument is settled only when the team card is published.

What to watch next

The next concrete checkpoint is India's first playing XI of the Sri Lanka assignment. That sheet will show whether Dasgupta's demand was ahead of the selectors or aligned with them. A Kuldeep start would close the England unused-series chapter in the most direct way. Another omission would extend the same question into the middle of the tour.

Secondary markers are the bowling changes if India do field multiple spinners, and the role found for Sarvesh Jain if the side needs extra slow-bowling overs without Sundar. Those are match-day facts, not pre-series speculation. Until then, the verified record is clear enough: Dasgupta wants Kuldeep in the XI, Kuldeep did not play in England, Sundar is injured, Jain has been called up, and Sri Lanka is the next place where those decisions will be tested.

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