India spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been ruled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season. It has been understood that he sustained a serious knee injury and has already returned to India. Kuldeep will be out of action for close to 4-6 months now as he will have to go through a long rehabilitation process before making a comeback to competitive cricket. A senior BCCI official confirmed the news stating that Kuldeep Yadav twisted his knee during a practice session with the team in the UAE. “Yes, we got the information that Kuldeep sustained a nasty knee injury during a practice session in UAE. Apparently while fielding, he twisted his knee and it was really bad at that point. There was no chance that he could have taken any further part and was sent back to India,” the official said according to Times of India.
Kuldeep Yadav underwent surgery recently in Mumbai and might take a long time to recover from this injury. He is likely to miss the most part of the domestic season as well. “Knee injuries are generally bad. It’s a very long process from starting to work and then getting strength back through intense physiotherapy sessions at the NCA, followed by light intensity training and finally starting with net sessions.“It can’t be said with certainty that Kuldeep will be match ready by the time Ranji Trophy ends,” another source further added. This is a huge blow for the bowler who was deprived of enough opportunities in the IPL and at the international level as well. Having shined in the first couple of years for India, Kuldeep’s stocks dipped significantly post the 2019 World Cup and despite being in the Test squad, never got enough chances. He has also not featured for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a long time and has played rarely in the last couple of seasons. The 26-year-old from Kanpur has played 7 Tests, 65 ODIs and 23 T20Is for a total of 174 wickets across formats. He last played for India in Sri Lanka but it was more of average performance with best figures of 2/48 in an ODI game and 2/30 in a T20 International. He played two more games during that tour -- an ODI and a T20I in which he went wicket-less.
