Kuldeep Yadav will turn 30 in less than six months and while experience and age has mellowed him down a bit, the ego and self-confidence is still intact. The football buff who spent his early teens kicking a ball in the park with friends and stayed up late to watch European football thinking he can do a better job than the likes of Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola is still full of belief that he can get any batsman out at any time.
Injuries, loss of form have brought maturity and wisdom. He is not the youngster who, as he recalled in a podcast with Ravichandran Ashwin, didn’t heed the advice of Kolkata Knight Riders bowling coach Carl Crowe to work on his length. Kuldeep admits he was too rigid or too scared to make any changes in his bowling.
“I was very egoistic. I had a lot of belief in my skill. I used to believe that I could get anyone out. I had so much confidence in my skill set that I thought what he was saying was not important,” Kuldeep told Ashwin.
Even now, he is keen to take over the mantle of India’s leading spinner from the legendary off-spinner and is confident of holding his own in the run-fests in the IPL.
However, a few years later, loss of form and a career-threatening knee surgery put his career on a crossroads. In the span of two years, he went from being hailed as “India’s lead spinner in overseas Tests” by then head coach Ravi Shastri to becoming the fifth-choice tweaker after Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar.
That was the time Kuldeep needed a comforting arm around his shoulder. Ashwin, in his podcast, said how it took Kuldeep a few years to even open up with him. His international form had nosedived after MS Dhoni retired.
“After Dhoni retired, my performance with the ball wasn’t great. It happens that a person guides you and when that person’s influence is not there anymore, suddenly everything is on your shoulders. It takes time for you to react to the situation… that probably happened to me,” Kuldeep told The Indian Express.
But the left-arm spinner is lucky to have found the required support. In his first year under Rishabh Pant’s captaincy at Delhi Capitals, he scalped 21 wickets in 14 games. Last year, when Rishabh missed the tournament after a road mishap, Kuldeep had an average season, taking 10 scalps in 14 games. This year with Rishabh back and chirping “Ye wala achha tha Kullu (This one was nice, Kuldeep)”, his performance has improved. He has picked 12 wickets in eight matches so far.
In the Indian set-up, Kuldeep has found comfort in the form of captain Rohit Sharma.
“Rohit bhai has always supported me. When I was injured, he was continuously in touch with me, and specifically told me about what he wanted from me. After the injury, he picked me directly in the team,” Kuldeep said in a select media interaction.
“Now he is after me to improve my batting,” Kuldeep burst into laughter. “He was impressed with my batting during the Test series against England. For the past year, I have had more discussions with him on my batting than my bowling,” he said.
During the Ranchi Test, Kuldeep stitched a series-turning 76- run stand with Dhruv Jurel for the eighth wicket. In the IPL, against his former team KKR, he scored a career-best 26-ball 35.
There was once a perception that Kuldeep needed to work on the speed of his bowling; that the fizz was lacking and he was too slow to beat batsmen. His relationship with Kolkata Knight Riders soured drastically as everyone said he needed to increase his pace. It was like a maths teacher narrating a formula but not explaining how to solve a problem.
“Sab kehte rahe speed badhao, but kaise karna hai wo kisi ne nahi bola (Everyone said,I need to increase my speed but no one told me how),” Kuldeep said.
“I was scared to try new things. Before my injury, I had been bowling with the same action for 15 years. There were lots of questions in my mind,” he said.
After his rehab when a puzzled Kuldeep reached Kanpur, his childhood coach Kapil Pandey immediately realised that his ward was all over the place but he made sure that he would not let him throw in the towel.
“I asked him first to tell me the suggestions he had received from everyone. He said ‘Sunil Joshi ji wanted him to work on his angle. Rohit Sharma wanted him to bowl a tad quicker. Ashish Kaushik, a physio at NCA, warned him against putting too much weight on his front leg. He sounded insecure and feared that by trying new things he might end up losing his loop and turn,” Kapil Pandey told The Indian Express.
“I sent him his old bowling footage and explained to him that since he gives more air to the ball and it goes above the eye line, the batsmen had a lot more opportunities to play the big shots. I didn’t think he got my point. He was in two minds and insecure about losing his mystery. I literally shouted at him and told him to give it a try before jumping to any conclusion.
“After having a closer look at his medical report, I understood what Ashish ji meant. He wanted to protect his knee. We made a few adjustments in his run-up, I asked him to be aggressive. The results were not sudden. I made him bowl three hours in the morning and then a couple of hours in the evening at the nets but he needed match practice,” said Pandey.
He asked Kuldeep to play in a local T20 tournament in Kanpur. “Sir wanted me to get the taste of a match,” said Kuldeep.
“It was frustrating to start with. I was not getting my length right, I was losing the trajectory. I did work a lot and my leg would swell up but I would say, ‘Sir, don’t worry, I will apply ice’. He was with me through that journey.
“With the new run-up, I increased my pace but was bowling flat. After a couple of matches, I realised that batsmen were not getting more time with this new action and run-up. That was the first ray of hope I saw after a long time,” said Kuldeep.
“In my first season with Delhi Capitals, (head coach) Ricky Ponting and Pant told me that I would get to play all the matches. Ricky even liked the changes I had made in my bowling.
Delhi Capitals’ Kuldeep Yadav appeals successfully for the wicket. (PTI)
“In 2022 against Punjab Kings, I lost my rhythm and without even realising I started bowling with old action. I remember during the strategic timeout, Shane Watson came and told me ‘Mate, I want to see Kuldeep 2.0. Show us what you have done in the past games,’” recalls Kuldeep.
Kuldeep’s career has been like his bowling. It has turned, bounced, and drifted, but has found the accuracy and zip in the past couple of years. So what has changed? He had shed his ego and learnt from his mistakes. On the show Breakfast with Champions when host Gaurav Kapoor teases him about his weight, Kuldeep immediately replies: “Dhoke-dhakke sab khaya hun (I had faced betrayal and setbacks).”
There is a tectonic shift in Kuldeep’s attitude as well. Now he is not happy being just the third spinner in India’s Test team. In the podcast with Ashwin, Kuldeep made his ambition clear to his senior. “You remember, Ash bhai, after the Hyderabad Test (against England) you told me if I was to play as the lead spinner, I must bowl 15 overs and not give away more than 25-30 runs in a spell. Earlier, I used to think about getting four wickets and it didn’t matter how many runs I conceded.”
Even in the ongoing IPL, with the Impact Player rule and prevalent power-hitting, Kuldeep blames the bowlers for not executing their plans well.
“I feel bowlers should be a bit braver. Instead of sticking to their own plans, they are more worried about the strength of batsmen. Look at Jasprit Bumrah. The other day, Ashutosh Sharma scooped his yorker for a six but has he stopped bowling the yorker? No, he is sticking to his strengths and that’s why he is doing so well,” said Kuldeep.
