Kuldeep using Warne's tips

Kuldeep Yadav’s inclusion for the fourth Test was supposed to be the surprise element and he indeed took the Australians by surprise. The left-arm chinaman, who idolizes Shane Warne, had picked tips from the legendary Australian leg-spinner during his commentary stint for the first Test at Pune.

Kuldeep, who took four wickets on debut, couldn’t help chuckling at how his maiden Test wicket came against Australia and through a flipper, which he had learnt from Warne. “Did you see the first wicket (David Warner)? That wasn’t a chinaman. It was a flipper which I learnt from Shane Warne. So learning from Warne and then getting out his countryman is great thing,” Kuldeep said.

“My idol was Warne and I have followed him since childhood. I only watch his videos and it was a dream come true when I met him. I couldn’t believe I was speaking to my idol and sharing my thoughts on bowling and what all I should be doing. I did exactly what he told me to do. He has promised that he will have another session with me in near future.”

Kuldeep, who learnt about his selection on Saturday morning, said he was not nervous facing Smith. “Actually, I bowled to Smith for the first time and I didn’t have any difficulty as he wasn’t playing any strokes against me. Maybe he didn’t want to take any chance against me. From childhood I have been told that spinner is someone who would take wickets even if he gets hit. All four are precious scalps and first one (Warner) is very special. Next two (Handscomb and Maxwell) were satisfying as you got it exactly how you had visualised their dismissal. Variations are important to bag wickets.”

Kuldeep, who faced several disappointments on being left out, said he was confident his chance would come. “My coach was a bit upset that I wasn’t being picked. I assured him that I will be getting my chance for sure because I had confidence after I bowled in the nets. Senior players like Virat (Kohli) bhai and coach Anil (Kumble) sir motivated me and told me that my chance would come.”

Mathew Wade, who scored 57, admitted they had difficulty picking up Yadav. “He bowled a lot of different deliveries. He bowled a lot of leg-spinners with the scrambled seam. The wrong'un was scrambled seam as well. It took a few balls to get used to it, but once you stayed out there a little while, you got a read on him,” he said.