MSK has big plans for Kuldeep in future

Pallekele, Aug. 16: The core group of Indian team management wants to have a proper plan in place for young chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who is expected to play a big role for the national team across formats in the long run.

With R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja plying their trade in English county circuit, young Kuldeep will lead the spin attack against Sri Lanka. However skipper Virat Kohli, chief coach Ravi Shastri and chairman of selectors Ravi Shastri want to handle the UP youngster with a lot of care.

Kuldeep is certainly in the mix for the 2019 World Cup in England. “We have a keen eye on both short and long term objectives. We cannot ignore the forthcoming home cycle wherein India will play Australia and New Zealand in limited-overs cricket and we also have to build for England in 2019,” Prasad said.

“We wanted to start this process with the limited-overs tour to West Indies itself, but we couldn’t do it because of the short change-around time after the Champions Trophy. We had to send the same team to the Caribbean as we did to England,” Prasad added.

While limited overs cricket can’t be ignored, India's gruelling away season will kickstart with a tour to South Africa in early 2018. “We also have to consider Test cricket and India have three tough challenges in South Africa, England and Australia in 2018. We have to prepare for all formats simultaneously, and in hindsight, this county stint for our senior bowlers opens a great window of opportunity for us,” Prasad added.