'I was a little intimidated' - Kuldeep Yadav on how he wanted to wake up Virat Kohli at 3 AM before his Test debut

Kuldeep Yadav is a permanent member of Indian limited-overs side and has brought the uniqueness of chinaman bowling and the class of orthodox flighted deliveries all together for the Men in Blue. Yet the confident wrist-spinner was very nervous when he made his Test debut for India.

He shared a fascinating story of how he was about to wake up captain Virat Kohli at 3 AM. It took place during Australia’s tour of India in 2017 before the fourth Test of the series in Dharamsala. Yadav picked up 4/68 in the first innings as India won the game to clinch the Border-Gavaskar series.

The left-hander, who is in the UAE at the moment to play for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL), shared the emotional instance about his Test debut on Knights unplugged, on KKR’s website.

“It was an honour! I was on the bench for three matches but kept preparing myself with Anil sir (Kumble), our the then coach. He backed me a lot. He exactly knew the kind of mindset young spinners have. I remember, a day before the debut, we were having lunch together,” he stated.

“He told me, you are playing tomorrow and I want 5 wickets from you. I was a little intimidated but I confidently said that I would definitely take. I slept early at 9 PM and got up at 3 AM, confused and nervous. I wanted to wake up Virat Bhai who was next doors. But I was sure he would get mad at me. So, I went back to sleep and got up at 6 AM.”

I had tears of joy at that moment: Kuldeep Yadav

“When I came to bowl, Steve Smith hit a boundary off a googly in my second over and I realised the difference between international and state-level cricket.”

“Following lunch, I just tried to be relaxed and give my best. I started strategizing my game and bowled a few slower ones to David Warner and then mixed it up with a flipper, feeling it might clean him up or trap him LBW. He played the cut straight to the slip. That was my first wicket. It was one of the happiest moments of my life and I got really emotional.”

“When I was lying on my bed at night and I started reflecting to realise how much I had to struggle to reach that point. I had tears of joy at that moment,” Kuldeep said.

Kuldeep has picked up 24 scalps in the six matches he has played for India in Tests. His average is also quite promising as he picks up a wicket for every 24 runs he spends. However, the wrist-spinner is yet to become a permanent member of the team in red-ball cricket as the team management has persisted with the pair of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

He last played Test cricket during the 2019 Sydney Test against Australia where he picked up a six-wicket haul. The 25-year-old also has two hat-tricks in ODI cricket- against the Aussies and West Indies.