Kuldeep Yadav spills out the reason behind his success in Rajkot Test

The chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav gave the premature finishing touches to the first Test against the Windies in Rajkot on Saturday by picking five wickets in the second innings. His 5 for 57 wrecked the visitors’ top order as they succumbed to a defeat by an innings and 272 runs to concede a 0-1 lead in the two-Test series. Yadav’s maiden five-wicket haul in the longer format also made him only the second Indian bowler after Bhuvneshwar Kumar to take fifers in all the three formats of the game.

The 23-year-old later revealed his preparation for the red-ball variant of the game. Having made his debut in Tests against Australia at home last year, the left-arm spinner was picked for his first overseas Test at Lord’s during the England series and in the only innings that India bowled in that game, Kuldeep returned with no wicket for 44 runs in nine overs.

He was left out of the squad soon and the youngster returned home to play for India A side against Australia A in the four-day matches.

I went to my coach at home after coming back from England

Determined to defeat the tag of ‘less effective in red-ball cricket’, Kuldeep Yadav returned to his personal coach and under his watchful eyes, practised hard with the red ball before the Windies series. The results showed as the spinner, who has already done well in the limited-over versions, picked six wickets in the series opener for 119 runs.

“It is very difficult to switch to red ball from white ball and vice versa, especially for a wrist spinner. It is challenging because you take time to get used to it. The white ball is on the harder side, grips better. Red ball wears down faster, gets soft,” he was quoted as saying by Sports Cafe.

“After coming back from England, I went to my coach at home, bowled with the red ball for three-four days. It was difficult because after playing white ball format you lose rhythm with the red ball. I mainly focused on the release of the red ball, bowling slower as you tend to bowl faster with white-ball,” Kuldeep added.

Kuldeep benefited immediately after going to his personal coach by picking eight wickets in one of the unofficial Tests against Australia ‘A’ at home after that forgettable outing at Lord’s.

On his better returns in the second innings in Rajkot Test, the mystery spinner said, “First innings I did not anticipate that they (West Indies batsmen) will attack me so much. But they were going for their strokes so in the second innings I did not fight the ball as much, kept it tight and got the wickets.”

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