Kuldeep Yadav, the chinaman spinner realised that it was unique and difficult bowling chinaman and he drew inspiration from legendary Australians Shane Warne and former KKR leg spinner Brad Hogg.
Kuldeep Yadav was advised and encouraged by his coach to become a rare left-arm orthodox spinner as his build was not suited for pace bowling. He started as a fast bowler at academy level.
Kuldeep Yadav On Understanding Chinaman For The First Time
Kuldeep Yadav, who was coached by Kapil Pandey first came into focus during Under-19 World Cup in 2014 and his unconventional style got due recognition as he was picked for all formats for India in 2017.
“When I went for a few trials in my childhood in Kanpur. I often used to wonder why chinaman bowling is so different that no one even tries! There were over 250 aspirants and only 40-50 players would be picked for the camp,” Kuldeep Yadav maintained.
“Someone at the trials told me to bowl left-arm finger spin instead of chinaman and I followed that. My coach was noticing everything and when I went up to him, he asked, “Why didn’t you bowl?”. I was baffled. He told me that I didn’t bowl the way I was supposed to.”
Yadav has been an incredible asset for India particularly in the white-ball format. He has delivered punch above his weight.
“He could see the writing on the wall that I would not be selected. That came out true! I was upset but he started showing me Shane Warne videos and asked me to follow his bowling style. I have troubled my coach a lot but even now I correct my bowling looking at Warne’s videos.
“It was only this time when I realised how difficult and unique chinaman bowling was. Brad Hogg (former KKR player) was one of the players back then whom I used to watch. But I always felt, if I could spin like Warne, that would create the difference,” he added.
Brad Hogg was a former Australian cricketer who played all formats and represented Kolkata Knight Riders in 2015 and 2016. He picked up 157 wickets from 124 ODIs. He picked up 23 wickets in 21 IPL matches. Shane Warne is the second-highest wicket-taker in Tests with 708 wickets. He captained Rajasthan Royals and picked up 57 wickets from 55 IPL matches where he averaged 25.39. His averages in Tests and ODIs also were around 25-26.
Kuldeep Yadav On Difference Between Leg-Spin And Chinaman Bowling
Kuldeep Yadav can deceive batsman beside having the ability to use a width of the crease.
“If you have noticed, I mostly practice against right-handed batsmen. Because for me it is easy to bowl to a left-hand batsman. When a right-handed batsman bats, my variations are mostly wrong’un, top spin, flipper or googly.
“If you are playing T20, slogging leg spin gets really easy. If it’s a left-handed batsman, a leg-spinner mostly uses googly and not regular leg spin. I guess the variations I spoke about work wonderfully well in T20 cricket, but if you consider international or domestic cricket, leg spin is still very effective,” he added.
Kuldeep Yadav initially wanted to be a pacer but became a wrist spin bowler on the insistence of his coach who was impressed with the turn and variations at trials.