Former India spinner R Ashwin wants to see the team giving Kuldeep Yadav “better treatment”.

Kuldeep has now sat out three of India’s last four ODIs, including the first one against England in Birmingham. The team management opted for fingerspinners Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, who can also contribute with the bat. Axar took 4 for 62 and scored an unbeaten half-century in the chase. Though Washington Sundar went wicketless in his four overs, he too scored an unbeaten fifty as India chased down 263 with six wickets to spare. But Ashwin feels there will be place for only one of them in the XI during the 2027 ODI World Cup in Africa.

“I have an issue with the kind of treatment that Kuldeep Yadav has been given,” Ashwin said. “We’re having two fingerspinners in conditions that might not have suited spin necessarily. Come South Africa, you will need Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washy [Sundar]. Both of them [Axar and Washington] got fifties and saw us home. But I think there is place only for one of the two players in the future. I would love to see Kuldeep handed better treatment because he is a matchwinner.

“Look at England, on the other hand. They are showing you what a good combination is. They went in with a fingerspinner who can bat, which is Will Jacks. And they went in with an attacking spinner, which is Adil Rashid,” who plays a similar bowling role to Kuldeep in one-day cricket.”

Even during the three-match home ODI series against Afghanistan, Kuldeep featured in just one game, when he went for only 42 in his ten overs in Lucknow but failed to pick up a wicket.

Ashwin also said India still did not have a “first-class replacement” for Hardik Pandya and their “search is on”. In Pandya’s injury-forced absence, India played Shivam Dube. Dube didn’t get to bat but picked up 1 for 27 from his six overs.

“I like the fact that Shivam Dube was persisted with,’ Ashwin said. “He got six overs to bowl, which is something that’s a tick mark from the Indian perspective.”