The young Indian leg-spinner, Kuldeep Yadav‘s confidence received a huge blow during his maiden Test outside Asia, against England at Lord’s last year when he bowled nine wicketless overs for 44 runs. It was the second Test of the five-match series and he didn’t play again in that series. He did feel down but took it as a challenge and vowed to learn from his mistakes.
Talking about the same to Indian Express recently, Yadav said, “I could barely smile. I saw the world crumbling in front of me, but when I look back now, I realize that everything in life has a purpose. The Lord’s Test was an eye-opener, a reality check. I realized I needed to work harder and prepare better so that I wouldn’t repeat the mistakes.”
Before that Test, Kuldeep has had a phenomenal start to his international career. But following Lord’s Test, there were talks of his mystery is disclosed.
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On the other hand, Kuldeep feels that there is no mystery in his bowling, he said, “What mystery? Sab bakwas hai. I am using the same weapons as Ash [Ravichandran Ashwin] bhai — flight, drip, drift, and turn — only that I’m a wrist spinner and he’s finger spinner.”
After playing red-ball cricket for India A and then against West Indies at home, the chinaman’s confidence had gone up and it was evident when he got to play in the fourth and final Test of India’s tour of Australia and he grabbed a five-wicket haul as well. The highlight of his performance was the dismissal of Australian skipper whose dismissal Kuldeep had been plotting since the first Test in Adelaide.
Yadav explained, “It was exactly how I had dismissed him in Adelaide [in mind]. I noticed that he liked to play Ash bhai on the back-foot, the good length balls. Slightly fuller ones, he would compulsively go for the drives, leaving a lot of space between the bat and the body. So when I slip in a full-length delivery after a few good-length ones, he would lunge for the drive. If I can beat him in the air, I can get him bowled.”
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For Kuldeep, his effectiveness in bowling comes with the help of outsmarting a batsman. He feels that the biggest thrill of spin bowling is about out-thinking a quality batsman as he considers that all these are the mind games.
