3 min readJul 20, 2026 07:00 AM IST Shubman Gill has cited pitches not being responsive to spinners and hence India getting defensive with the ball when the tweakers operated in the middle as the reasons for not playing Kuldep Yadav in the series decider at Lord’s against England. Having not given opportunity to Kuldeep throughout the tour, with Jasprit Bumrah missing with a knee injury, there was an opportunity to bring him as an attacking option on Sunday. However, India went into the game with just five bowling options with Axar Patel chosen as the lone spinner. Made to bowl first, India’s inexperienced attack ended up conceded 387, with 90 runs coming off the final six overs alone. Having already missed a genuine wicket-taking option in the middle-overs right through the series, India had to toil hard at Lord’s where they could manage only three wickets. Asked for the reason for not including Kuldeep, Gill said: “So the matches that we played prior to this, we had seen the wickets were not offering that …