Former India cricketer Murali Kartik believes the upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka will be crucial for India’s spin attack, with Ravindra Jadeja in the “twilight” of his career and the team looking to the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Manav Suthar to step up and shape the next phase of its red-ball spin-bowling unit. Kartik, during a virtual interaction with the media, said the series is crucial for India’s spin attack as Ravindra Jadeja approaches the twilight of his career. He praised Manav Suthar’s performance against Afghanistan, saying the young spinner has shown promise and could be important for India’s red-ball future. Notably, on his Test debut for India, Suthar grabbed seven wickets in the one-off Test against Afghanistan in June.
The opening Test will be played at the Galle International Cricket Stadium from August 15 to 19. The series is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 cycle. Led by Shubman Gill , India are currently fifth in the WTC standings, having registered four wins and four losses in nine matches, with one draw and a points percentage (PCT) of 48.15.
Because it is, as you rightly said, very, very difficult,” he said. “And look, Kuldeep Yadav has been a match-winner for India, but unfortunately for him, things played out differently when he had Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid as captain and coach, respectively, and now he hasn’t got that kind of run in the team. When you think of what happened in England, everybody kept saying during the course of those five Test matches, ‘Where is Kuldeep? Where is Kuldeep? And Kuldeep didn’t play; he was sitting out. So it’s very important from that point of view, now that Ravindra Jadeja is in the twilight of his career: Is he the leader, or is it going to be someone else?
