Matthew Hayden backs Kuldeep Yadav to shine in ‘tough, character-testing’ England series

Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden backed Kuldeep Yadav to shine in tough England conditions. Hayden said Yadav could be a 20-wicket bowler for England in the upcoming series. Yadav has scalped 56 wickets in 13 Test matches at an impressive average of 22.16.

Against England, Kuldeep has bagged 21 wickets in six Test matches at an impressive average of 22.28 and he would look to be at his best in the English conditions.

“Looking ahead, I’m really curious about what India brings to England. Five Tests — that’s a tough, character-testing series. We discussed it earlier — someone like Kuldeep Yadav could be a key 20-wicket bowler for them. We’ve had the advantage of Lyon’s consistency, and his absence in the last Ashes showed the impact of losing a reliable spinner. The best teams, through every era, have always had one thing in common — stability,” Hayden told JioStar.     

Kuldeep bagged 15 wickets in 14 matches for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025 at an average of 24.06 and an economy rate of 7.07.

On the other hand, Kuldeep said one can not relax against England, as Ben Stokes’ team is known to play aggressively.

Yadav said on RevSportz, “I have played against England last year, and have the idea about their playing style. The only thing is that one has to be very alert all the time and stay focused. Unlike other teams, with England team, one cannot relax and play defensive. England bat in a very aggressive manner so one has to very much be in the game and plan your overs accordingly.”

The opening Test match between India and England will be played at Leeds, Headingley, from June 20 onwards.

Full squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav