After having a good day on his Test return (during the day three of the ongoing Sydney Test), Kuldeep Yadav reveals that he was nervous but he has changed nothing for bowling in Australia.
Though the Indian left-arm chinaman Kuldeep was in the Test squad from the very beginning of the ongoing four-match Test series in Australia, he has been included in the playing XI in the ongoing Test at Sydney, which is also the final Test of the series. After India declared their first innings on 622/7, Australia had a good start but Kuldeep Yadav’s brilliant bowling helped the visiting side to finish on top on day three.
While Australia ended the day on 236/6, Kuldeep had a bowling figure of 24-6-71-3. Talking about the ongoing Test match, Kuldeep revealed that he was nervous to play the first Test in this series.
Kuldeep said after the end of the day, “To be very honest I haven’t changed anything (for bowling in Australia). I am playing my first Test in this series and so was nervous. I have played enough cricket to have decent enough knowledge but in Test cricket I will need a little more time perhaps to improve. The more you play with red ball the more you can improve.”
While Kuldeep is now a regular bowler in India’s limited-overs cricket, the ongoing Test is his sixth Test in his almost two-year long career.
Comparing the multi-day cricket and limited-overs cricket, Kuldeep said, “Test cricket is similar – the more you play the better you can read batsmen. There is time enough to plan for batsmen, you can bowl more overs and change fields. There is more pressure (when you play red ball cricket after white ball cricket) … you need at least 10 days as a leg spinner to change your mind set and control things.
“If you are bowling in the nets you can improve a bit but if you are playing more matches, you improve more. You need match practice, because four-day and Test cricket is very different from ODIs.”
While Kuldeep is now the third spinner of the Indian Test team, he claimed that he is still learning where the other two senior spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, are motivating him.
Kuldeep claimed, “When I came from Lord’s test, I bowled for a week with my coach and played India-A Test series against Australia-A. I performed well there because when you get rhythm, the ball comes out well and then I played against West Indies and did well.
“When you know you have Ashwin and Jadeja, best spinners in the world, and you are the third one, so then there is a lot to motivate yourself and learn from them. They keep pushing me in the nets that you have to bowl this way and in good areas.
“So I am very motivated (to play) and it is important to learn from them because they have played enough cricket. I am still learning.
“Sometimes it’s hard when batsmen are picking you. You have to keep learning every day and I am still learning every day. England tour was challenging for me, especially the Lord’s Test. I have worked on my bowling with my coach after that.
“For a spinner its very important to follow the basic thing of spin bowling – give little flight, turn the ball and land in perfect area to deceive the batsmen in air. That’s more important for me and I am still working on that. I don’t believe in mystery spin; if you are good enough to deceive the batsmen in air that’s more important for me.”
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After the brilliant 72-run opening partnership between Marcus Harris and Usman Khawaja, Kuldeep dismissed Khawaja for 27 runs.
Talking about that wicket, Kuldeep said, “I was thinking of bowling wrong ones to Khawaja. A couple overs ago I was bowling over the wicket and I knew that he would come after me, maybe hit at midwicket or mid on. I was lucky that the wrong one pitched in the perfect area and straightened and he hit to mid-wicket.”
Later, Kuldeep dismissed Travis Head (20 runs) and the skipper Tim Paine (5 runs) through the caught & bowled and bowled dismissals respectively.
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Speaking about how his teammate helps him to bowl the right areas, Kuldeep feels easier during MS Dhoni’s presence in the limited-overs cricket.
The young chinaman bowler said, “Definitely, I also get help from senior players like Virat Kohli. Even Rishabh Pant helps me, and all wicket-keepers help spinners telling them what to do. It is easier in ODIs because Dhoni is there. He has played so much more cricket and he keeps telling you what to do.”
Indian fielders have also performed very well on this tour, especially in the last two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney respectively. Kuldeep credited the fielding coach R Sridhar and feels that they are the best catching team at present.
He added, “We have the best fielding coach in R Sridhar. We are really working on slip fielding and catching at short leg, silly point and general fielding as well. I feel we are the best catching team in the world when it comes to fielding.”
