Root left helpless as twirlyman keeps his secrets

Up in the Test Match Special commentary box all the illustrious names had a go at trying to pick Kuldeep Yadav, enjoying about as much success as the England batsmen.

Sunil Gavaskar came the closest but he is not about to let on the secret to playing this rarest of breeds, a left-arm wrist-spinner, when there is a Test series beckoning that India are confident they can win.

Reading Kuldeep’s variations holds the key for England this summer as the baton passes from the football team to their cricketing counterparts. The last time England reached a World Cup semi-final in 1990 the cricketers took on

the challenge of keeping up national morale and the captain, Graham Gooch, scored 333 against India at Lord’s.

For that to happen again, Joe Root needs to find a swift answer to his current form but also how to play Kuldeep, who has deceived him both times he has faced him.

At Old Trafford, in the Twenty20, Root was beaten on the front foot misreading the googly, and stumped. Here he was back, giving himself more time to read the delivery, but misjudged the turn and was beaten on the inside by a leg-break that was hitting leg stump.

Root was not the only one who could not pick Kuldeep. England tried being aggressive straight away when Kuldeep came on as Jason Roy played the reverse sweep to his third ball but hit it straight to The second time in his ODI career that Kuldeep has completed a 10-over spell without conceding a single boundary. The other occasion? Another first ODI, when India toured South Africa this year.

cover. Jonny Bairstow was done by the wrong ’un via a good review and, unlike most wrist-spinners, Kuldeep never let the pressure drop. For the second time in only 21 ODIS he bowled 10 overs without conceding a boundary.

“We need to get better at playing him,” admitted England captain Eoin Morgan. “When he does bowl well he is very good and he exposes an area of our game we need to improve on.”

Normally wrist-spinners take costly wickets in the middle overs. It is the bargain that England accept with Adil Rashid. Except Kuldeep does both. He has an economy rate of 4.66 in ODIS and here more than half of his deliveries were dot balls. His only bad delivery, dropped short to David Willey, was slogged to the fielder at deep square leg.

Kuldeep’s six for 25 are the best one-day figures by a spinner in England and fourth on the all-time list for India. He turned the ball at Trent Bridge on a good batting pitch and England must wonder what will he be like on day three or four of a Test match, particularly if the dry weather continues, with dusty, bare patches to bowl into.

The challenge for Kuldeep is to keep England guessing. Sky freezeframed each delivery, but looking at it in static is a world away from at full pace. The more they play him, the better England should become at spotting the minor differences that give clues to which way the ball will turn, which is why winning this game was so important for India. Seal the series at Lord’s tomorrow and they can rest Kuldeep and protect him from exposure.