India’s left-arm Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav captured the imagination of everyone with his bag of tricks and ability to bamboozle batsmen with his wrist spin. The youngster already has made quite a wave with his performances for India both at home and overseas.
Kuldeep is also the only Indian bowler with two international hat-tricks to his name, both of which came in ODIs- against Australia and West Indies.
Like every wrist-spinner, Kuldeep too looked up to the great Shane Warne for inspiration, given that the Australian legend revived the art of leg-spin and inspired a generation to take up the difficult art of bowling.
Kuldeep made his Test debut against Australia in 2017 in Pune and was introduced to Warne by then India head coach Anil Kumble.
Never missed my coach while playing with MS Dhoni, says Kuldeep Yadav
"I met Shane Warne during a Test match in Pune. When I met him for the first time, Anil Kumble was our coach and I had told him I want to meet Shane Warne. When I finally did, I couldn't say anything for 10 minutes. He was talking with Anil bhai, explaining to him something. I was just listening to both of them,” Kuldeep told TV presenter Madonna Tixeira on her Instagram show 'Live Connect.'
“Then finally, I started to talk. We talked a lot. I told him about my plans, about how I feel while bowling, how I try to bowl from different sides of the wicket. He told me 'You think a lot'," Kuldeep added.
"He is mentally very strong. I think more than his bowling, he got the batsmen out with his mind. His planning used to be a lot better. He said a lot of little things which tend to matter a lot," added Kuldeep.
Kuldeep has taken 24 wickets in 6 Tests, 104 wickets in 64 ODIs, and 39 wickets in 24 T20I matches and has atleast one five-wicket haul in all the three formats of international cricket.
Kuldeep also talked about his relationship with Shane Warne and the bonding he shares with the Australian, who was the first to pick 700 wickets in Tests.
"I met him many times after that. He always used to guide me like a coach. Gradually he became like a friend. I spent a lot of time with him during our Australia tour. I always got the feeling that if I needed someone for suggestions he would be there. I chatted a lot on phone calls and messages. When I was very young I never thought I will meet him, get to discuss cricket and bowling with him so it was a very big thing for him," added Kuldeep.
(IANS Inputs)
