Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar reckons that next year's IPL is going to be massive for Kuldeep Yadav, saying a good outing in the T20 extravaganza will earn the spinner a place in the T20 World Cup squad.
Kuldeep recently returned to India's T20 squad for the West Indies series after a gap of nine months. He had last played the shorter format of the game against New Zealand in February.
"I'm a massive Kuldeep Yadav fan and in terms of strike rates you see he is the quickest to 100 ODI wickets; and even in the shorter format, if you look at the match we won in England, he picked up five wickets at a time where the opposition was running away from the match," Bangar told Star Sports.
"I wouldn't count out Kuldeep Yadav; it's just that he's had a couple of poor games in the IPL last season. For him, this IPL is going to be a massive factor and if he does really well it will be very hard to keep him out."
Bangar also believed Ravinder Jadeja's bowling prowess makes him a better option than Krunal Pandya in India's World T20 squad.
"You require a wrist spinner in the T20 format; it has been a very major component in India's success wherein two wrist spinners played a massive role in most of the one-day and T20 series the team has had across conditions. Hence, you will need a bowler who is capable of bowling the complete four overs and also bat at No.7," he said.
"Hence, I feel Ravinder Jadeja edges over Krunal Pandya here, as Krunal hasn't been able to deliver the complete four overs at times and Jadeja has been in great form recently."
However, batting great VVS Laxman said it is going to be tough for Kuldeep to earn a place in India's squad for next year's T20 World Cup.
"Kuldeep Yadav hit two blows when the team was under pressure; he and Krunal Pandya got those important runs at the finishing stage of the India's innings against West Indies in the first T20 International last year," he said.
"I would invest in Washington Sundar. With Sundar, the advantage is that he can bowl in the powerplay and the tough overs. We have seen that and he can extract more bounce on the Australian wickets because the way he releases the ball; he can use the crease, and in Australia it is not necessary you look to turn the ball, but you can vary the pace and extract the bounce and deceive the batsman as its going to be big grounds.
"So, I would think it would be tough for Kuldeep currently, but you never know what happens just before the World Cup," he added.
Kuldeep has played six Tests, 53 ODIs and 18 T20Is, grabbing more than 150 wickets across all formats.
