While I am excited, I am also nervous - Kuldeep Yadav

Ravindra Jadeja’s suspension might turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Kuldeep Yadav, who could feature in the final Test against Sri Lanka at Pallekele. The young left-arm chinaman made his Test debut against Australia at Dharamsala when he featured along with his side’s spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja under stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane.

Jadeja bagged 3 demerit points in the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo extending his tally to six in the last one year. Due to which the Indian all-rounder was handed two suspension points leading to a ban from one Test match. However, Kuldeep’s inclusion in Indian XI is still a suspense with selectors naming Axar Patel as replacement of Jadeja for the last game.

Kuldeep, who is unsure about his chances of playing the final Test is doing his duty of working hard in the nets like he has done before the previous two games. The 22-year-old says that there will be same excitement as it was when he played his debut Test if he gets a chance to play in the upcoming game.

“It is still not clear (if I will play) because there are three days left for practice. But ever since I have come here, (Ravi) Shastri sir keeps on motivating me. I have been doing nets and he has been talking to me during the nets from even before the first Test. It is a good experience,” said India’s first chinaman bowler when asked about his chances as quoted by news18.com.

“Obviously there is excitement. I was excited to play my debut Test as well. So if I get a chance to play in Sri Lanka I will be very happy because this will be a result of my hard work. While I am excited, I am also nervous because I want to perform,” he added.

Kuldeep says that he understands his role in the team with Jadeja and Ashwin, who occupy top places in ICC Test rankings for bowlers slated to play ahead of him. Speaking of the sharing the dressing room with them, Kuldeep says that he has learnt a lot from the both especially by playing the Test format.

“Definitely you will have to wait for your chance if no.1 and no.2 spinners (Ashwin and Jadeja) in the world are in the same Test squad. You cannot walk into the team so easily and you have to wait as that’s the rule of cricket. I try to stay with them mostly and keep talking to them and they help me a lot. So I have learnt a lot from them especially playing Test cricket with them.” says Kuldeep.