India's Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has revealed that he learned the art of reading pitches and setting fields from legendary wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni.
Hailing former India captain’s supremacy in setting the field, Kuldeep said he never paid attention to the field placement when Dhoni was there, as the spinner himself once claimed that the latter is the only player in the world who can judge his bowling with ease, and that’s something he is missing now.
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Yadav told Deep Dasgupta in the latest episode of Cricketbaazi on ESPNCricinfo: “When I started my career, I wasn’t good at reading the pitch. I learned about this aspect after I started playing with MS Dhoni. He would often tell me when I needed to spin the ball or where I needed to pitch it.”
He further said he is missing Dhoni’s inspiring presence on the field since the veteran batsman has been on a break from the game after the 2019 World Cup in July last year. He was due to return to action in the IPL 2020.
The spinner further added, “Dhoni was very good at setting the field as well. That’s why I never paid attention to field placement when I bowled with Dhoni keeping the wicket. He would understand where the batsman could try to hit me and set the field accordingly. It helped me a bowl with more confidence...since the time he has not played ODI cricket, this has gone missing as well.”
However, Kuldeep is now matured enough to set his own field, and he credited Kohli for backing and believing in youngsters like him and give full freedom.
He further explained, “Today, when I come to bowl, I set my own field. Sometimes you go wrong if the captain is saying one thing and you have something else in mind. But you learn from these things. I appreciate Virat Kohli for this. He has always backed me. He believes in all the youngsters give them full freedom. That's one of the reasons why Chahal and I have had a successful partnership.
Kohli believes that we can win matches for India. When your captain shows faith in you, your frame of mind improves and it makes everything easy. To Kohli, it doesn't matter if I concede 65-70 runs in my ten overs but pick up three wickets. He is happy.”
Meanwhile, the left-arm wrist-spinner also spoke about his relationship with the spin partner Yuzvendra Chahal, adding: “He has always taken care of me, like an elder brother. Even now, after playing so many matches together, even off the field, he gives me advice on cricket as well as off cricket.”
Yadav signed off by saying, “He supports me, and this bond is visible on the field as well. We've never had a competition between us, irrespective of which of us gets picked to play. In the last year or so, only one of us has gotten to play at a time. I feel happy when he plays and performs well. He always used to say that we have to pick up three or four wickets in the middle overs. This has always been our plan and it used to be easy when MS Dhoni was behind the stumps.”
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
