Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said India is missing the spark in the middle-overs in ODI cricket, adding that the spinners are waiting for things to happen rather than being proactive and making things work. Harbhajan said both R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal took a defensive approach albeit on flat pitches during the recently-concluded series in South Africa.

Harbhajan Singh, speaking to Sports Today n Tuesday, said it’s time to look beyond R Ashwin in ODI cricket and suggested India bring back the combination of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, popularly known as ‘Kulcha’.

India suffered a 0-3 sweep in the ODI series in South Africa wherein India struggled with the ball, allowing South Africa batters to play big knocks. R Ashwin, who was brought back to the ODI squad for the first time since 2017, picked up only one wicket in 2 matches before he was benched for the 3rd ODI. Yuzvendra Chahal picked up only 2 wickets, struggling to be threatening the middle-overs.

Head coach Rahul Dravid, when assessing the team’s performance after their 0-3 defeat, conceded that India’s inability to pick up wickets in the middle overs is a cause for concern.

India haven’t played Kuldeep and Chahal regularly together since the 2019 World Cup and the former’s dip in form meant he has made sporadic appearances for the senior national team.

However, Harbhajan Singh believes there is no harm in trying out Chahal and Kuldeep together once again in ODIs. The two wrist-spinners played 36 ODIs together and picked 125 wickets between them between 2017 and 2021.

“I think these two guys (Ishant Sharma and Ashhwin) have done really well for Team India, whether you talk about Test cricket or ODIs. With all due respect to R Ashwin, I think he is a champion bowler, but in ODI cricket, I feel, it’s time India start looking for an option, maybe someone who can take the ball in as well as out.

“Someone like Kuldeep Yadav could be a great option. Why don’t we go back to Kulcha combination and see what they can bring to the table? They won have games for India. It will be a good thing to go back to them,” Harbhajan said.

“R Ashwin and Yuzi Chahal played in the South Africa series. They didn’t create too many opportunities with the ball, they were a bit defensive with their approach. There were times when they could have attacked the opposition by putting in another slip or another man catching in. And of course, wickets were very, very true. There is no doubt about it.

“But no matter how the wickets are, if you’re playing in the World Cup against any opposition, your job is to take wickets in the middle overs. It will come down to how you create opportunities as a bowler,” he added.

“You need someone like Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal bowling in tandem. You can also bring in another X-factor, someone like Varun Chakravarthy, there is no harm trying him again. You played him in those 2-3 games in the World Cup and you decided okay, he is not good enough,” he added.

INDIA MISSING SPARK IN THE MIDDLE-OVERS: HARBHAJAN

Elaborating on the need to pick up wickets regularly in the middle-overs in ODI cricket, Harbhajan said: “We are missing that spark in the middle-overs where people are going for wickets rather than waiting for things to happen.

“When Kulcha played together, they were brilliant for the team in the middle-overs. Whenever they played together, they picked wickets and won games for India. I don’t know why they fell apart, why they were not given the opportunities after the World Cup. Maybe it’s time to bring them back or maybe some other X-factor who can take wickets in the middle-overs rather than just doing the containing work.

“If you don’t take wickets in the middle-overs, I don’t think you are going to win many games. It’s also important to take wickets with the new ball which we were not capable of enough in the series in South Africa,” he added.

India next play ODIs against a visiting West Indies side from February 6 to 11 in Ahmedabad.