Published 21:59 IST, April 25th 2020
Kuldeep Yadav hails former KKR mentors Gautam Gambhir & Wasim Akram for motivating him
Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav hailed his former Kolkata Knight Riders mentors Gautam Gambhir and Wasim Akram for having motivated him during his early days
Kuldeep Yadav has been one of the finest bowlers and has provided plenty of breakthroughs for his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders ever since he started playing for the two-time winners in 2014. Recently, he credited his then captain Gautam Gambhir and team mentor Wasim Akram.
'Huge influence': Kuldeep Yadav
While speaking on KKR's official website, Kuldeep went on to reveal that Gautam Gambhir had a huge influence on him from the start of his KKR stint. He also said that Gambhir spoke to him a lot after he had parted ways with the Kolkata franchise. The chinaman bowler also mentioned that the southpaw kept motivating him and before CLT20, he assured Yadav that the spinner would get to play every game and all he needed to do was keep putting in the effort that he has shown. The Knight Riders finished as the runners-up of that edition's CLT20. However, they had won that season's IPL and Kuldeep was also a part of that squad.
Kuldeep on Wasim Akram
Kuldeep Yadav also heaped praises on the 'Sultan of Swing' Wasim Akram. He said that Wasim did not speak much about bowling but he prepared Kuldeep in terms of mentally taking on the game and also prepared him to take on different situations in different ways, and taught him how he needed to react whenever he was put under pressure by the batsmen.
At the same time, the wrist-spinner further added that when the Pakistani pace legend was at KKR, he used to sit next to him in the dugout during matches and ask questions about real-time situations. The youngster also revealed that he used to ask Akram what he would have done in certain situations, and the ex-Pak skipper would test him by asking what his approach would have been.
Updated 21:59 IST, April 25th 2020