Former Team India batter Mohammad Kaif expressed surprise at ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion from the playing 11 for the ongoing third and final ODI against England at Lord's on July 19. The 31-year-old missed the opening two games of the series, thanks to India prioritizing batting until No.8.

Thus, they went with spin-bowling all-rounders instead of a specialist spinner in Kuldeep, with Axar Patel and Washington Sundar. However, the latter was ruled out of the series decider with injury, with Harsh Dubey replacing him in the squad.

Meanwhile, India, who are already without Varun Chakaravarthy for this series, also lost their pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for the ongoing third ODI. Yet, Kuldeep found no place in the playing 11 with India going with four specialist pacers and Axar Patel as their lone spinner.

Reacting to Kuldeep Yadav's continued exclusion from India's ODI playing 11, Kaif said on his X handle:

Kuldeep did play in India's previous ODI series at home against Afghanistan, finishing with impressive figures of 0/42 in 10 overs in the second ODI, which was his last appearance for the side in this format.

Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin also slammed the management for Kuldeep Yadav's exclusion from the playing XI in the ongoing Lord's ODI against England. With batting depth being the reason for Kuldeep's consistent omission in the white-ball formats, Ashwin questioned the addition of a specialist bowler in Arshdeep Singh at No.8 in the ongoing contest.

Kuldeep boasts an excellent ODI record with 194 wickets in 121 matches at an average of 27.04 and an economy of 5.07. The Men in Blue endured a dismal showing with the ball without the veteran spinner, as England amassed 387/3 in 50 overs.

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