Stats: Why Kuldeep is important to India's success in ODIs

Statistics prove Kuldeep Yadav is pivotal to India's success in One-Day cricket. He will be very crucial if India wants to stop the rampaging West Indian batting line-up in the remaining three matches.

After a cracking start to his campaign in ODI series against Windies, Kuldeep has become the third leading bowler with most number of wickets in ODIs in 2018. He has 2nd best average among the top 5 ODI wickets takers of 2018. He is taking wickets at an impressive strike rate of 22.90 in 2018 – second best among the top 5 wicket takers of 2018.

Bowler's performance in 2018 ODIs

PLAYER	MATCHES	WICKETS	AVERAGE	STRIKE RATE
Rashid Khan (AFG)	20	48	14.45	22.2
Adil Rashid (ENG)	24	42	27.47	30.4
Kuldeep Yadav (INDIA)	16	39	17.64	22.9
Mujeeb Ur Rahman (AFG)	20	37	19.54	30.4
TL Chatara (ZIM)	21	30	27.03	30.9

Kuldeep has taken 61 wickets since his ODI debut – most by any bowler during that period. Even Rashid Khan has taken less wickets than Kuldeep since the Indian spinner’s debut back in June 2017.

Wickets taken by bowlers since Kuldeep's ODI debut

PLAYER	MATCHES	WICKETS	STRIKE RATE
Kuldeep Yadav (INDIA)	30	61	25.6
Rashid Khan (AFG)	23	55	22.2
YS Chahal (INDIA)	30	49	32.7
Adil Rashid (ENG)	29	49	30.3
Jasprit Bumrah (INDIA)	25	46	26.7

Kuldeep has performed well on foreign soil recently but he has a lot of work to do to become successful on home turf. He has underperformed on the spinner-friendly Indian pitches. His home bowling average is 27.35 compared to his away bowling average of 16.56. He also conceded runs at an economy rate of 5.98 He has yet to take a 4-fer in front of the home crowd. Kuldeep has the worst personal bowling rate in India compared to other countries he has played in He has been expensive in India too than any other country he has bowled in ODIs

Kuldeep's performance in various countries in ODIs

OPPONENT	MATCHES	AVERAGE	ECONOMY
South Africa	6	13.88	4.62
England	3	16.44	4.93
West Indies	5	19.75	4.05
Sri Lanka	2	23.66	3.80
U.A.E	6	23.70	4.08
India	8	23.35	5.98

Kuldeep has the worst economy rate in the lists of the bowlers with minimum 60 overs bowled at home since 2017