Will Kuldeep Yadav replace Ravindra Jadeja permanently in India's ODI team?

India demolished Australia in the second ODI against Australia by 50 runs in Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

And the champion of such a feat against the Australian team was India’s ‘Chinaman’ Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins to become the third Indian cricketer after Chetan Sharma and Kapil Dev to take a hat-trick in ODIs.

“Initially I was struggling to bowl in a particular area. It’s a game of cricket, everything happens. Last match, where I was hit for three sixes in an over, was a learning experience. I asked Mahi bhai (M S Dhoni) what I should bowl, he said ‘tujhe jaisa lagta hai wo daal (you bowl what you want)’,” said the 22-year-old Uttar Pradesh player.

With this a mysterious bowler has arrived to see India through in tough times. But is this a sign of change in the spin department?

Experts say that Kuldeep can become a fixture in the Indian team, permanently replacing Ravindra Jadeja.

Although Jadeja is invaluable in the test format of the game, his ODI numbers are lacking.

Being an all-rounder he has already been replaced by the swashbuckling Hardik Pandya.

Jadeja has played 136 ODI matches and has a batting average of 31.38. Although he hasn’t taken as many wickets as he should, Jadeja is an economical bowler with an economy rate of 4.9.

The main contention is with Jadeja’s batting. He has not fired at the times he was required to. On the other hand Kuldeep is a wrist spinner whose job is only to take wickets.

And Kuldeep, although not very economical, has shown that he can take wickets in the middle overs. Skipper Virat Kohli too has reposed his faith on the spinner.

And so we can probably see more of Kuldeep in the ODI format while Jadeja may be relegated to playing tests and the T20s which he is exceptional at.

• Kuldeep Yadav
• Ravindra Jadeja
• India vs Australia