Promising young wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav played down suggestions that the Virat Kohli-led Indian team beat a significantly weakened Australian side to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on their last trip.
Many believe the Indian team were fortunate in not having to contend with Steve Smith and David Warner, hosts' premier batsmen, when they pulled off a memorable 2-1 series win in the 2018-19 season and became the first Asian side to beat Australia in a Test series down under.
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For Kuldeep, however, there can't be any "criticism" in that regard of the tourists as Warner and Smith's absence had nothing to do with them. In fact, it was a fault of their own after being banned for involvement in the ball-tampering saga.
"You need to win Test matches to win a series. We won two of them, and could have one the fourth one too had there been no rain. The criticism holds no merit," said Kuldeep taking to KKR.in.
"Whenever you are playing against a team, your own team’s performance matters the most. So instead of looking at the other team - who they have in their squad, and who they don’t - it makes more sense to talk about your own team."
"We did well, and hence we won the Test series. If our fast bowling works well and we perform as prolifically with the bat as we did the last time, we will win this time too."
"Yes, their team has now improved with the return of the experienced David Warner, Steve Smith and the likes of Marnus (Labuschagne), who has really done well for them in recent times."
"But last time too, their team was good but we played really some really good cricket to win. Looking forward to the challenge once again, it’s going to be a great contest," added the 25-year-old who took a five-fer at the SCG during the last series.
Looking at the current tour and the start of the much-anticipated Test series with a D/N pink-ball encounter from Thursday (December 17) in Adelaide, Kuldeep said it isn't that only the pacers will make the ball talk under lights, even spinners can prove effective.
"I feel it's difficult to read spinners at night, because if a spinner uses variations it's not always easy to spot the seam position of the ball. That can be an advantage for us. I have never experienced a pink ball match outside India. So, it will be exciting to see how it goes." he said.
“It’ll be unfair to say spinners haven’t dominated in Australian conditions, there have been many instances when spinners have done well down under. It completely depends on how quickly you adapt to, and read the conditions."
"A lot of us, having played so much T20 cricket of late, will have to be patient when playing Test cricket. Mental toughness is very important. When switching to the longer format, you sometimes tend to try too many things too quickly. Wickets don’t come easy in Test cricket, so patience is the key," Kuldeep added.
Kuldeep, who grew up idolising Shane Warne, was also asked whether he has contacted the Aussie spin legend on the tour so far and about the tips he might have got from him.
"He has shared a lot of valuable inputs about bowling over the years, but mainly, he talks about mental preparation. One thing he always insists on is to always wear a smile on my face. He has told me that's a very important virtue for a spinner."
"If your face shows any sense of stress, your body language goes for a toss. I’ve worked on this specifically and I consider it as one of the best advice I’ve got," he said.
While he is behind veterans Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the pecking order, young Kuldeep said he doesn't have a personal goal or any point to prove if given the opportunity.
"Not really. When you play for the country, you are not playing for yourself, there is a much bigger motivation than that. Whenever I get a chance, I hope to do my best and if I can win a Test match for my team, that would make me very happy," he signed off.
