Kuldeep Yadav has emerged as one of the top spinners for Team India. In the year’s leading up to the 2019 World Cup, Kuldeep was the top-spinner for India in limited-overs cricket as he formed a lethal partnership with fellow wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. He was a regular in the side but average performances during the World Cup and the ensuing competitions led to him being dropped.
Kuldeep is one of the rare left-arm unorthodox (chinaman) spinners for India and on his day can bamboozle the batsmen with his guile. He recently recalled the story of how he became a spinner. Kuldeep was a fast bowler initially but his hurdle of ‘lack of growth’ led to him opting to become a spinner.
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"I think I was good at fast bowling. I could swing the ball both ways even at the age of 10-11 years. Even my coach used to feel the same because my wrist work was neat," he said in a video posted by KKR on its website.
"But the hurdle was my lack of growth (height). So, he asked me to switch to spin bowling. I was pretty angry initially because I never liked spin and always wanted to be a fast bowler.
{{/usCountry}}"But the hurdle was my lack of growth (height). So, he asked me to switch to spin bowling. I was pretty angry initially because I never liked spin and always wanted to be a fast bowler.
{{/usCountry}}"I skipped going to the ground for 10 days as I was determined to continue with only fast bowling. But my coach told me that if I really wanted to play cricket, I had to take up spin."
"When my coach asked me to try out spin, I didn't know why I chose to bowl chinaman. It just came naturally to me. My coach felt it was a rare quality in me, so he kept working on it," Kuldeep concluded.
Kuldeep has been retained by Kolkata Knight Riders for the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League.