Kuldeep Yadav, the chinaman spinner feels that his franchise Kolkata Knight Riders have a chance to win IPL this time around if they perform as a unit besides sharing other aspects like debuting in Tests and taking a hat-trick in One Day Internationals. He said that leg-spin is effective in both domestic and international cricket.
He became the first bowler for India to take hat-trick twice in international cricket. He has taken 5 wicket haul in each format and is the second Indian and third spinner to do so. He is an important member of KKR representing them since 2014. The Uttar Pradesh born 25 years Kuldeep Yadav went down memory lane and shared highlights of his career.
Kuldeep Yadav Photo Credit: BCCI/IPL
Kuldeep Yadav On KKR’s Chances And Understanding Chinaman
KKR have a strong team this year featuring the likes of superstars Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan and will be led by Dinesh Karthik.
“I had a strong feeling last year that we would win. Even in 2018, we were playing great cricket and I was sure we would win the title. I remember the match we lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad (in qualifier 2). It was a heart-breaking moment when we lost the match. If we can strike a good combination, we can certainly win it this year or next year. “
Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzendra Chahal (Image Credit: Getty Images)
“Someone at the trials told me to bowl left-arm finger spin instead of chinaman and I followed that. My coach told me that I didn’t bowl the way I was supposed to. He started showing me Shane Warne videos and asked me to follow his bowling style. It was only this time when I realized how difficult and unique chinaman bowling was.”
Kuldeep Yadav initially wanted to be a pacer but became a wrist spin bowler on the insistence of his coach.
Kuldeep Yadav On Debut Test, Hat Trick And Leg Spin
Kuldeep Yadav made his Test debut against Australia on March 2017.
“I was on the bench for three matches but kept preparing myself with Anil sir (Kumble), our the then coach. When I came to bowl, Steve Smith hit a boundary off a googly in my second over. I bowled a few slower ones to David Warner and then mixed it up with a flipper, feeling it might clean him up or trap him LBW. He played the cut straight to the slip. That was my first wicket. It was one of the most happiest moments of my life and I got really emotional,”Kuldeep yadav said.
Kuldeep Yadav and Anil Kumble (Image Credit: Twitter)
“I spoke to Virat bhai and asked him if I could bowl from the other end. I got my first wicket of Matthew Wade and then in the next ball I plucked Ashton Agar. For the third ball, I asked Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) what to bowl. Luckily I bowled a good ball and got the edge. Getting a hat-trick at Eden Garden is a big thing and this was one of the biggest moments of my life. For the second hat-trick, I had told my mom that day that I would take a hat-trick.”
“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. 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,” Kuldeep concluded.
Kuldeep Yadav took a hat-trick at Eden Gardens Kolkata against Australia in 2017 and became the first bowler for India to take two hat-tricks in ODIs in a match against West Indies in 2019.
