Harbhajan suggests bringing back 'KulCha': Time to look beyond Ashwin in ODIs

Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh on Tuesday said that India spinners are missing the spark in the middleovers in ODI cricket adding that its time to look beyond R Ashwin in the 50over format and bring back the combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav popularly known as KulChaIn the recentlyconcluded threematch ODI series which India lost 03 offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin and legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal were outbowled by South Africas troika of spinners Tabraiz Shamsi Keshav Maharaj and parttimer Aiden MarkramThe 35year old Ashwin who was brought back to the ODI squad for the first time since 2017 picked up only one wicket in two matches before he was replaced by Jayant Yadav in the third ODI On the other hand Yuzvendra Chahal also picked up only two wickets and struggled to cause any threat to opposition battersThe former India offspinner feels both Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal took a defensive approach against South Africa batters and said there is no harm in trying out Chahal and Kuldeep who havent played together since the 2019 World Cup again in ODIsI think these two guys Ishant Sharma and Ashwin have done really well for Team India whether you talk about Test cricket or ODIs With all due respect to R Ashwin I think he is a champion bowler but in ODI cricket I feel its time India start looking for an option maybe someone who can take the ball in as well as out Harbhajan told India TodaySomeone like Kuldeep Yadav could be a great option Why dont we go back to the KulCha combination and see what they can bring to the table They won games for India It will be a good thing to go back to them He added R Ashwin and Yuzi Chahal played in the South Africa series They didnt create too many opportunities with the ball they were a bit defensive with their approach There were times when they could have attacked the opposition by putting in another slip or another man catching in Harbhajan admitted that the pitches were not that spinfriendly in the South Africa series but he believes bowlers need to create opportunities in order to take wickets in the middle oversAnd of course the wickets were very very true There is no doubt about it But no matter how the wickets are if youre playing in the World Cup against any opposition your job is to take wickets in the middle overs It will come down to how you create opportunities as a bowler he saidYou need someone like Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal bowling in tandem You can also bring in another xfactor someone like Varun Chakravarthy there is no harm trying him again You played him in those 23 games in the World Cup and you decided okay he is not good enough he addedElaborating on the need to pick up wickets regularly in the middleovers in ODI cricket the former cricketer said the team is not going to win many games without taking wickets in the middleovers We are missing that spark in the middleovers where people are going for wickets rather than waiting for things to happen When KulCha played together they were brilliant for the team in the middleovers Whenever they played together they picked wickets and won games for IndiaI dont know why they fell apart why they were not given the opportunities after the World Cup Maybe its time to bring them back or maybe some other Xfactor who can take wickets in the middleovers rather than just doing the containing work said HarbhajanIf you dont take wickets in the middleovers I dont think you are going to win many games Its also important to take wickets with the new ball which we were not capable of enough in the series in South Africa he addedIndia are now scheduled to play ODIs against a visiting West Indies side from February 6 to 11 in AhmedabadThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever