India spinner Kuldeep Yadav spoke about his connection with Rohit Sharma, the captain of the Indian team. Kuldeep has flourished in all three formats for India under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma since his return after knee surgery.

Under Rohit's captaincy, Kuldeep has been performing consistently well and turned into a match-winner, especially in white-ball formats. The 29-year-old revealed the crucial advice he received from Rohit when the two were recovering from their respective injuries at the National Cricket Academy.

"He was there at NCA when I was there rehabbing and then bowling. He had wanted me to incorporate some of the changes I was doing much earlier in fact. He would say when I stand at slip I feel the batsmen have enough time to play you off the pitch, that I need to get more energy through the action, and that the batsman should not get time to play me. If he thinks he can get onto the backfoot to play me off the pitch, the ball should rush to hit the stumps or the pad. What he had thought in the past, I was now doing," Kuldeep told Indian Express.

Kuldeep Yadav also spoke about Rohit Sharma’s antic and quips on the field. Kuldeep asserted that no one minds what Rohit says on the field as he termed it as his love for the players.

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"We have a great connection, we move around a lot together, and we share personal stuff. So our bonding has been great. And the stuff he says on the field, no one minds. We have that relationship. Jo bhi voh bolte hain, humare liye pyaar hai unka (it’s his love for us)," he added.

The 29-year-old further hailed the Indian skipper for backing the youngsters even if they feel down and underconfident about themselves.

"He guides and backs all the youngsters. He shows trust in others. Even If I didn’t have trust in myself, Rohit would tell me or the other person, ‘I trust you, bindaas khel’. As a batsman, he understands bowling and so that was helpful," he added.

In the recently finished Test series against England, Kuldeep made an impression on many with his batting prowess. The ace spinner acknowledged that Rohit had assisted him in that area.

"Now, he doesn’t tell me anything about bowling. We have reached that stage where he is focusing on my batting now, he talks a lot to me in nets and even told me after the Test series what I can work on in the break now. I feel lucky he is there," he concluded.

(Indian Express inputs)