Out-of-favour spinner Kuldeep Yadav didn't get a single game in the first phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which the spinner believes is due to the lack of communication between him and the coaching staff at Kolkata Knight Riders.
The 26-year-old, who is not a part of India's T20 World Cup squad, in a recent interaction with former cricketers Aakash Chopra and Parthiv Patel lamented about his repeated exclusion from KKR's playing XI.
"If the coaches have worked with you before and are with you for a prolonged period of time, they understand you better. But it becomes very difficult when the communication is weak. Sometimes you don't even know that whether you will be playing or not, or what the team expects from you."
"Sometimes you feel that you are deserving to play, can win matches for the team, but you don't know the reason why you are not playing. The management comes for 2 months with their plans, so that makes it difficult," Kuldeep explained in an interaction with Chopra on YouTube.
"In the Indian team they talk to you when you are not selected, but it does not happen in the IPL," he added.
Kuldeep also believes the number of alternatives in the KKR camp could be a possible reason behind his snub.
"I remember that I had spoken to the franchise before the IPL but in the matches that happened in the middle, nobody gave me an explanation. I was a bit shocked. I felt like there was no trust, like they had no faith in my skill. This happens when the team has many options. KKR now has plenty of spin bowling options."
During the interaction, Kuldeep also stated that approaching to an Indian skipper in place of a foreign recruit is a lot easier, thus giving the fans an indication about his relationship with current KKR skipper Eoin Morgan, who is also the captain of the England in limited-overs.
"I don't know how Eoin Morgan sees me. In such cases, the communication gap increases. When it's an Indian, you can literally walk up to them and ask why you are not playing. Suppose, Rohit Sharma is the captain, you can ask freely on ways to improve, what's my role in the team but most importantly, the captain should also be interested in what he expects from me," Kuldeep explained.
