Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav undergoes successful knee surgery

"Surgery was a success and the road to recovery has just begun. Thank you so much to everyone for your amazing support. The focus is now to complete my rehab well and be back on the pitch doing what I love as soon as possible," wrote the 26-year-old with a picture of him after the surgery.

The knee surgery and period of rehabilitation means that Yadav faces a lengthy time on the sidelines, especially with the senior men's domestic season starting with Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy from October 30.

It is a big blow to his plans of coming back in the scheme of things for the Indian team. In IPL 2021, Yadav didn't feature in a single match as Varun Chakravarthy cemented himself as the primary Indian spin option in the playing eleven.

Yadav was the main member in India's eleven till the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England ad creating a formidable pair with leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Since then, he has been in and out of the Indian team despite taking his second hat-trick in ODIs against West Indies in Visakhapatnam in 2019. He also got demoted to Grade C from Grade A in the BCCI central contracts list for October 2020 to September 2021 period.

Yadav last played for India on a white-ball tour to Sri Lanka in July this year. He took 2/48 in the first ODI and 2/30 in the second T20I. He played in the second ODI and third T20I, where he went wicket-less.