Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg feels his former Kolkata Knight Riders teammate and rising India spinner Kuldeep Yadav can be effective in the upcoming Champions Trophy, provided he is picked up in the squad.
The chinaman spinner has grabbed the headlines after his exceptional performance in his debut Test against Australia in Dharamsala Test last month.
He had claimed four Australian wickets as India bowled the visitors out for 300 in the first innings which paved the way for their series-clinching win.
He has been doing well in the ongoing Indian Premier League too where he has taken eight wickets in as many matches at an average of a shade below 22. But apart from the stats, the Kanpur-born tweaker has left one and all impressed with his brilliant variations.
In the match against Rising Pune Supergiant earlier this week, the way he outfoxed MS Dhoni and Manoj Tiwary in one over, it was enough to show his immense potentials and Hogg believes the variations will help the youngster to excel in unfriendly condition too.
“Yes, Kuldeep can be effective in England. The best cricketers are the ones who can adapt to foreign conditions,” Hogg told PTI.
“Great thing about the sport is no two countries are same. There is always something different that adds to the variety of the different individuals. One of his (Kuldeep) next job will be to bowl on different wickets,” he added.
One of the most sought after chinaman spinners in the game, Hogg further praised the Indian spinner for his variations before giving him an invaluable advice.
“He is a different bowler for sure. There aren’t too many chinaman bowlers in world cricket at the moment. Kuldeep has great variety and strength of any spinner is his variations. You may know all the tricks in the trade but no point using the tricks if you haven’t yet mastered a stock delivery,” said Hogg, who has played 123 ODIs for Australia apart from 7 Tests and 15 T20 Internationals.
Speaking on a leg-spinner’s approach in different formats of the game, he said:
“If you are playing 50-over cricket, a leg-spinner can be a bit more slower and use his leg-break. In Test cricket, it’s entirely different where you have to be very patient. Coming to T20, one needs to be a bit more quicker through the air.”
He proved his point by citing the example of West Indies and Royal Challengers Bangalore spinner Samuel Badree, one of the best in business when it comes to T20.
“Someone like Badree skids deliveries into pads a little bit more so that batsmen don’t free their arms. In T20 cricket, one needs to be a little bit quicker so that the batsmen don’t come out of their crease. You can’t bowl good length in T20s as a batsman would hit you out of the park,” Hogg said.
Hogg also had a word of praise for the IPL skippers for the way they have handled the leg-spinners this season.
“Leg-spinners can be operational in Powerplays and some have been used in the middle period when the ball gets scuffed. It’s about utilising at right times. All captains have used leg-spinners wisely. That’s the biggest factor. When exactly are you using them,” the former player said.