Published 19:09 IST, January 31st 2021
Kuldeep Yadav reveals he was 'displeased' when asked to switch from fast bowling to spin
Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav has said that he always wanted to become a fast bowler when he had started playing cricket at a young age
Kuldeep Yadav has been one of Team India's best spinners in modern-day cricket. He along with leggie Yuzvendra Chahal has won a lot of matches for India in the limited-overs format ever since the two have been bowling in tandem after the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.
Meanwhile, Kuldeep has now revealed that he had never intended to become a spinner in the first place and in fact, wished to be a fast bowler.
'I was initially very displeased': Kuldeep Yadav
While interacting on a video that was posted on two-time IPL winners Kolkata's official Facebook page, the chinaman bowler went on to say that fast bowling appeared easy to him back in his younger days and according to him, he was good at it as well.
The left-arm spinner then added that even his coach used to feel the same because his wrist would work well and he could swing the ball both ways even at the age of 10-11 years. Furthermore, Yadav added that his coach had asked him to switch to spin bowling as his lack of growth was a hurdle (regarding his chances of being a pacer).
“I was initially very displeased because I never liked spin and always wanted to be a fast bowler. I was angry, but when he told me to bowl spin, I tried and started off bowling Chinaman (left-arm wrist spin) in the very first attempt,” the UP cricketer added.
“I was very angry and didn’t go to the ground for ten days, as I was determined to continue with fast bowling. But Sir said if I really wanted to play cricket and come to the ground, I had to take up spin bowling. So I went back to the academy after ten days,” he further added.
Kuldeep Yadav's cricketing career
Kuldeep Yadav has represented India in six Tests, 61 One Day Internationals and 21 T20Is ever since he had first burst onto the scene at the highest level in early 2017.
However, the offie has not had the best of times in the past few months. Representing KKR in Dream11 IPL 2020, he could only manage a solitary scalp in the five matches that he got to feature in for the former champions.
Kuldeep was a part of the Indian squad in the recently-concluded all-format bilateral series against Australia Down Under but, could only feature in a warm-up game as well as the dead-rubber third ODI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
The chinaman bowler has been added to the Indian squad for the upcoming home Test series against England starting February 5. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen whether he will be getting a game or not.
Updated 19:09 IST, January 31st 2021