India’s Indian wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav has revealed that getting smashed for sixes is the last thing he will worry about during his bowling spells as he has been conditioned well since his childhood to deal with the pressure of bad spells. He shone the brightest in India’s eight-wicket win over England in the first T20I on Tuesday night, grabbing five for a 24 in a match-winning spell. India rode on Kuldeep’s guile and KL Rahul’s 101 off 54 balls to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Talking about the impressive haul, Kuldeep said, “When I started playing cricket, my coach Kapil Pandey would make me bowl such that the batsmen hit me for sixes. I don’t feel the pressure. That is something I have learned very early on, and today I am not scared of getting hit. If you want to take wickets, you need to turn the ball. If the ball isn’t turning or drifting, then a spinner is not a spinner. If a spinner takes 4-5 wickets in a T20 game, then your team gets the advantage. Whatever I have learned in childhood, I am trying to follow here.”
Asking for batting first, English opener Jos Buttler gave England a sound start before Indian bowlers pulled things back with the variation of pace. Kuldeep’s scalps in the first T20I of the series were comprised of players like Eoin Morgan (7) caught in the deep and Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root stumped by MS Dhoni for golden ducks. Elaborating on that 14th over that changed the game completely in India’s favor, Kuldeep said that that pitch was a bit dry and that supported him.
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Taking about the over further, Yadav said, “When I started, I varied my pace. I thought if I bowled a bit slower, maybe there will be chances. Then when I came to bowl in the second over, I kept the pace down, and increased the flight and maintained it. I maintained my length too. The plan was to stretch the batsmen so that they don’t get any easy deliveries. I didn’t want to give them any pace, because it could’ve made things easy for them. I was varying my pace.”
Kuldeep bamboozled by using his googlies and he said his three-wicket over changed the momentum of the game in India’s favor. He said, “I never bowl looking at who the batsman is. I always try to do what I can do. Jos Buttler was batting well against me. I knew he wouldn’t take chances against me. So I was happy to give him that single because the other batsman has never faced me (before). Obviously, they (Bairstow and Root) are quality batsmen. It is a good feeling when you take two wickets on the trot. It gives a chance to the team to build momentum for all the bowlers.”
The second T20I will be played in Cardiff on Friday, and Yadav said that he is looking forward to continuing the performances.
