Ravichandran Ashwin comes out to bat for Kuldeep Yadav ahead of ODI World Cup

Yadav has now been excluded from the India side in the last four ODIs, with selectors opting for Washington Sundar and Axar Patel. The 31-year-old last featured in their massive 170-run ODI win over Afghanistan on 17 June, where he was wicketless. However, Kuldeep did feature in the Test team previously.

Meanwhile, Sundar and Patel are very useful with the bat, both scoring half-centuries in India's comfortable win over England in Birmingham on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, looking at the bigger picture, Ashwin believes Kuldeep's wrist spin is more dangerous than the finger-spin of Sundar and Patel on the pitches of South Africa. Ultimately, Aswin thinks one of these three will miss out on the World Cup.

"I have an issue with the kind of treatment that Kuldeep Yadav has been given," he told ESPN on Wednesday.

"We're having two finger spinners in conditions that might not have suited spin necessarily. Come South Africa, you will need Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washy [Sundar]. Both of them got fifties and saw us home. But I think there is place only for one of the two players in the future. I would love to see Kuldeep handed better treatment because he is a match-winner.

"Look at England, on the other hand. They are showing you what a good combination is. They went in with a fingerspinner who can bat, which is Will Jacks. And they went in with an attacking spinner, which is Adil Rashid, who plays a similar bowling role to Kuldeep in one-day cricket."

Kuldeep -who's known for taking wickets in bunches - averages 27.04 with the ball in ODIs with an economy of 5.07, but averages just 9.77 with the willow.