Former KKR coach Vijay Dahiya not surprised with Kuldeep Yadav's heroics in his debut Test

The only left-arm chinaman bowler to have ever graced the game from India, Kuldeep Yadav finally got his opportunity in the national colours when he was included in the playing XI of the final Test in place of injured captain Virat Kohli. He won millions of hearts by producing an exceptional spell where he bagged 4 wickets and provided India with the much-needed breakthroughs at crucial junctures of the game.

Despite his exceptional show in his debut match, former Kolkata Knight Riders coach Vijay Dahiya is not surprised at all as he feels Kuldeep was considered as a match winner by his captain Gautam Gambhir from the very first day. The left-arm spinner has impressed all and sundry with his consistent performance in the domestic circuit which justified his position in the team. He came into the reckoning with his match-winning spell for the KKR in a Champions League match in 2014.

“Gambhir was very bullish and felt that Kuldeep was a rare talent. In fact, if you go by the records over the past few seasons, there were times when Kuldeep made the cut ahead of some of the more recognised names in the KKR playing XI. The reason was that Gambhir felt that Kuldeep was a match-winner. The moment we saw him, we realised that he is a special talent,” Dahiya was quoted as saying by CricketNext.

Dahiya also went on to add that bowling with another chinaman bowler Brad Hogg in tandem has helped Kuldeep mature as a bowler and know his game better. “When you have an experienced campaigner like Hogg around, you learn a lot. One of the major areas of concern for Kuldeep was that he was a bit slow off the wicket. If the batsmen can read you off the pitch, that reduces the threat. You can’t give the batsmen time to read you off the wicket at the international level. And I feel that is the area where he has worked on.

“He would keep talking to Hogg about the nuances of chinaman bowling and what we see today is the result of a lot of hard work behind the scenes. Being young also helps because then you are much more open to ideas and look at learning from the senior pros,” he said.

Dahiya further said that with Anil Kumble being the coach of the national team Kuldeep can get a lot of learning experience and fine tune his skills.

“When you have someone like Anil Kumble as chief coach, you can only learn so much more. I think with Kuldeep having worked on his bowling and the fact that he has made his presence felt means that he will be a part of the squad for a while now. To have two senior spinners in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja around you and a legendary leg-spinner like Anil Kumble as a coach, this is just the start of Kuldeep’s rise. Not to forget an exuberant skipper in Kohli who loves backing young talent,” Dahiya concluded.