How Kuldeep clawed back into reckoning

Kuldeep, has an ill-fitting reputation of being left out despite good performances. Take the second Test against Bangladesh in December last year for example. He was dropped despite taking eight wickets, including a fifer, and scoring a crucial 40 in the first innings of the first Test.

In a recent interaction, Kuldeep Yadav revealed that he had normalised the fact that he was going to be left out of India’s schemes more often than not because he doesn’t fit the ‘situation and combination’. 

The Indian management has more faith in him than he does in himself by the looks of it because the man, who many wrote off only a year or so ago, is India’s frontline spin option at the upcoming World Cup. 

He went from being ignored by his Indian Premier League franchise - Kolkata Knight Riders - to picking up 23 wickets in 13 ODIs (the best figures for an Indian this year), reiterating his reputation. 

He will not form a tandem - with a churlish acronym: ‘Kulcha’ - with Yuzvendra Chahal for the latter has fallen out of favour, but the split was actually a result of Kuldeep’s ability to reengineer himself into a version which could not be ignored by the selectors, not for long.  

Sunil Joshi, the former chairman of selectors, revealed that he always had a soft spot for the soft-spoken left-arm wrist spinner because he had the skills to get to the highest level. More importantly, Joshi says, Kuldeep wanted to learn and not let selection matters come in the way of his craft. 

“I was with the (selection) committee at the time and I remember thinking Indian cricket should not lose out on such a talent,” Joshi tells DH. “We had to work on a few things, but the biggest thing we had to teach him was confidence and trust in himself. He lost time after being left out, but he has more than made up for it, and the path is great.”

Ill-fitting reputation

Kuldeep, as it turns out, has an ill-fitting reputation of being left out despite good performances. Take the second Test against Bangladesh in December last year for example. He was dropped despite taking eight wickets, including a fifer, and scoring a crucial 40 in the first innings of the first Test.

“That has crushed him a lot in the past,” says Kapil Pandey, the bowler’s childhood coach. “Even recently when he didn’t get any playing time with KKR, he was so hurt, but he was unwilling to give up. He kept bowling and tweaking his action. I think the time he spent with Joshi sir helped him a lot.”

Joshi, a left-arm spinner himself, could obviously understand the difficulties which come with being left-arm wrist spinner so he empathised with the 28-year-old. More importantly, he was able to show him all the things he needed to do to get back into the good books. 

“Front arm position, shortening of lengthy stride, more hip drive, higher revolutions… We worked on so many of those things,” says the former Karnataka cricketer. “It was a lot of work but I knew that he was determined to do it. That’s why I would demonstrate these things to him. There’s no point in just saying these things out loud. You should know how to show, and once I did, he was able to absorb information very quickly. He’s a very intelligent young man.”

It also helped that Kuldeep moved to Delhi Capitals in 2022. His stint at KKR wasn’t bad, but having the guiding hand of Ricky Ponting is fairly useful to someone so young and impressionable. 

“He needed to be talked to and his points needed to be understood. I think Ponting was able to do that. It’s not different from what (MS) Dhoni used to do with him. There was a great understanding and a great respect for his game, he enjoyed that,” says Pandey.  

But none of this can take away from the fact that Kuldeep worked relentlessly to regain relevance. Joshi reckons it is one of the reasons why he will remain in the side for a long time to come, possibly even be a force to reckon with in the upcoming World Cup. 

“Confidence is essential for a bowler, and you get that confidence once you put in the work. He has put in the work, lots of it. He played so many India A games and worked out a way to bring the ball in sharply off of a good length to right-handers. His stock is to bowl the one that goes away from the right-handers but he has changed that,” says Joshi. 

That’s precisely why the Indian management thought it prudent to include him in the squad as opposed to any of the off-spinners available to them. 

“He is a wicket-taking option on any wicket. The last year is a testament to that ability,” reiterates Joshi. 

He isn’t wrong, but it is nevertheless impressive that someone who nearly slipped through the cracks was able to make it back to the top, and he did it without making it seem like he ever tried.

Now that is class.