Kuldeep Yadav was India’s frontier spin choice option before hitting a rough patch of form and being dropped from the Indian Cricket team. Kuldeep last played a Test match in January 2018 against Australia and his last T20 match for the Indian team came against Sri Lanka in January earlier this year. He also had a poor outing against New Zealand in the first and only ODI he featured going for a massive 84 runs in his 10 overs.
Speaking about what went wrong, Kuldeep said “I don’t feel anything went wrong. It depends on the combination. In New Zealand the wickets were quite different, you might have seen that there were no spin tracks in Tests. Moreover, it was not a long Test series as well.”
He also shared Ravi Shastri’s confidence in him and staying positive-minded through the rough patch.“(Coach) Ravi bhai (Shastri) backs me a lot. He is open to everything. Whatever cricket I played till date, he backed me a lot. It was a team decision keeping in mind the conditions.”
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Speaking about the upcoming IPL 2020, Kuldeep says “IPL is such a platform which changes every year. You need to be active every time and adapt to the changes. I am right now fully prepared for IPL. I got plenty of time to plan also. IPL is very important (for making a comeback in Indian team),” speaking during the Times of India Sports Awards in Delhi.
He also added “Every player wants to play more because the more you play, the more you improve. IPL is such a platform where you get to play regularly over the course of one and a half months and it will, in turn, result in performance.”
Speaking about making a comeback in the Indian team, Kuldeep also shares his future plans of getting a chance to travel with the Indian team and participate in the soon to happen ICC T20 World Cup which will be held in Australia from October 18 to November 15.
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Yadav hopes to be on the flight to Australia for the upcoming T20 World Cup and play alongside his spin twin, Yuzvendra Chahal. “(Ravindra) Jadeja is putting in very good performances, in batting, fielding, and bowling. So, the combination has become more strong with his arrival,” he said.
He continues with “We have a very strong team and we will definitely give our best effort. It depends on the management whether we play together or not. A combination matters a lot. We love bowling in tandem and there is no doubt about it. It will definitely be great for us if we get to play together in the T20 World Cup.”
Kuldeep Yadav and MS DhoniKuldeep Yadav also said that he misses former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps before complementing Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul for doing a fantastic job in his absence.
“Mahi bhai (Dhoni) is such an experienced player, he has given the Indian team a lot. Whenever an experienced player is not playing then you tend to lack somewhere and miss him.”
Kuldeep signed off with “Having said that, they (Pant and Rahul) are still youngsters now but have been doing very well. Both are keeping well, so it is not making much difference, but you miss Mahi bhai’s presence.”
