Kuldeep Yadav has made a strong return to international cricket, following his lean patch after the 2019 World Cup. Despite being the third spinner, he managed to put in decent contributions with 12 wickets in the ongoing Test series against England.
His return, however, was not an easy ride. former India bowling coach, Bharat Arun speaking to The Indian Express, recalled the chat Kuldeep had with Ravi Shastri which led to his stellar comeback.
“This puppy fat you have has to be melted away, boss! I can’t think of a single reason with improved fitness that you won’t become a world-class Test bowler,” recalled Arun.
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The spinner had picked up a knee injury back in 2019 during a practice session with his former IPL side, Kolkata Knight Riders which ruled him out of action for most of the domestic season.
Arun believes that the injury forced Kuldeep to get fitter as all the rehabilitation to recover quickly got him to improve his fitness and improve his bowling as well.
“It seems rather silly to say this but that injury, I think, gave him no option but to get fitter. He had to do all the hard rehab work, shed himself of that puppy fat, to continue his dream of playing cricket. And he worked a lot on his bowling – that energy through the crease is a standout feature now. It allows him to increase pace without sacrificing turn, loop, and drift, added the former India coach.
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The former coach also talked about the technical things that he had worked with the spinner which eventually led to his immense comeback to put himself as an all-format spin-option for the Indian side which even surprised Shastri as well.
“I got his delivery stride shorter, front arm better, arm speed better, got him to rip more revolutions on the ball … Ravi Shastri asked me, ‘Sunil, what have you done with Kuldeep?’ I said, ‘Ravi bhai, I have not done anything special. If you look at Kuldeep 2.0, his front arm is going toward the target, his bowling arm is towards the target, and he is running towards the target. Shorter stride, there is a free follow-through, he has got quicker through the air,” said Arun.
Kuldeep Yadav will hope to continue his brilliant form through the season with the IPL coming up and more importantly the T20 World Cup as well where India will look to get their hands on their second title to end their title drought.
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