Those were the beautiful winter days of 2014. There was affinity, there was life, there was romance and there was love too. There were despairs but it was all brimming with hope. Hope is pertinent here, for 2014 was also the year of ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup. We were all glued to our television sets watching and hoping to see an uncut diamond taking the first step towards his dreams and ambitions.
It was a tournament where two exceptional talents stood out. One was a South African bowler too quick for his age and his body and other was a rare left-arm wrist-spinner for India. This was the first time people got a chance to see what this bowler with a leaping delivery stride, carrying the ball close to his heart before looping it out from the hand, is all about. This was the first time people got a chance to see what Kuldeep Yadav is all about.
First look at him was a sight that captured everyone's imagination. Kuldeep flighted the ball in the air, as if the cricket ball was designed to befriend the air. He gave it a rip, and it drifted and befuddled batsman after pitching. They just couldn't pick which way it is going. You call someone exceptional when he is different from the rest, Kuldeep exemplified the word. He was not strong enough, his balls didn't have the zip that worries players even on the backfoot but he was more skillful than the others and still troubled the batsmen enough to become India's highest wicket-taker.
****
Kuldeep was immediately drafted into the Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy team before making his Indian Premier League debut for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2016. This is when he first started bridging the gap for himself towards the International arena.
A year later, after having an outstanding Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy, Kuldeep made an unexpected Test debut for India against the inform Australian team in Dharamshala and made the impact straightaway by picking a 4-fer in the first innings. India won the game and the fiercely contested series, 2-1.
This is when, wisen from their experience of losing a Champions Trophy final, India realised that you need the ball to reach the batsman in curved and not straight lines in the middle overs of an ODI. That's how Kuldeep was handed a debut on the limited-overs tour to West Indies. Since then, he hasn't looked back.
He now has 63 wickets in the 31 games he has played for India since his debut in Trinidad, at an excellent strike rate of less than 25 and the affable pairing with the extremely likable Yuzvendra Chahal has given India the kind of edge they never had to their bowling. The bowling line-up of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal together, is designed by Virat Kohli's India to counter and conquer oppositions and conditions everywhere.
That is how India's maiden ODI series win in South Africa this year happened. Kuldeep played a key role in it and alongside Yuzvendra Chahal, won India the ODI series 5-1. Kuldeep got 17 wickets in what turned out to be a historic win for Virat Kohli's men.
****
Really, when you think of it, what took place on Wednesday in Old Trafford is a culmination of a lot of hardwork. Coming into the limited-overs leg of the tour, it is India's wrist spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav that was supposed to be the most potent threat for the home side that is playing a brand of white ball cricket that is highly enterprising. On a very sunny Wednesday at Manchester, England batsman got the first sight of that threat.
The moment he was thrown the ball by Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav came, he saw and he conquered. He completely mesmerised England's batting line up with his guile, spin, and variations. It was his 5 wicket-haul for just 24 runs that laid the foundation of a winning start of the tour for the Indian team.
Kuldeep took England into a zone, they dread. Leg-spin is a very difficult art to master but once attained excellence over, there is nothing more divinely beautiful to watch than a wrist spinner at the peak of his prowess. Legspin can so easily be compared to a Kishore Kumar classic, it happens to you and warms the heart like nothing else can. That's what Kuldeep bowled in Manchester, left-arm heartwarming medicine.
In one game, Kuldeep gave Cricket, the quality it so often craves for these days.
****
The obvious question doing the rounds right now is whether Kuldeep, who has taken his class to world class, do it in Test match cricket as well? Specifically, can the variety that he gives, help India field a bowler who has the game to excel in all conditions?
He has played just 2 Test matches for India and has an experience of 28 first-class games in total. But, there is a genuine conscience that the time has come for India to do things differently in overseas conditions, so that they start bettering their poor overseas record in South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand.
This is where approaching the upcoming tough 5-Tests series in England, India must have Kuldeep as part of their plans. The hierarchy may be set, were India prefers Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as their premier spin bowlers, but, as much they deserve high regards for their outstanding numbers in familiar turfs, truth be said, they have had very limited success so far in unfamiliar territories. Maybe, this is a big reflection of how little they have bowled overseas as well.
Whatever it maybe, Kuldeep Yadav must be an important part of India's planning and preparation, as they ambition to try and achieve a rare overseas Test series win this English summer.
