Indian left arm-chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has backed himself to be part of the Indian XI for the opening Test against Australia slated to start from 17th December. It will be India’s first pink-ball Test in overseas conditions and Kuldeep is of the opinion that the spinners might be difficult to read under lights. It will be a huge challenge for the Indian team especially, given the fact that the Aussies have won all their home day-night Tests so far.
Kuldeep might not have made a mark in the last year or so but he was tipped to be India’s go-to bowler in the longest format for overseas conditions by Ravi Shastri not long ago. He might have fallen off the radar quite a bit but given his skills as a wrist spinner, Kuldeep still stands a chance to play the first Test at the Adelaide Oval from Thursday.
“I feel it’s difficult to read spinners at night because if a spinner uses variations it’s not always easy to spot the seam position of the ball. That can be an advantage for us,” Kuldeep was quoted as saying to KKR.in.
India played their only pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata last year and they don’t have much of an experience of bowling with a pink ball in overseas conditions. However, the pace brigade of India showed quite a lot of promise in the second practice game, skittling out Australia A for a meager 108 runs in the first innings.
“I have never experienced a pink ball match outside India. So, it will be exciting to see how it goes. It’ll be unfair to say spinners haven’t dominated in Australian conditions. There have been many instances when spinners have done well Down Under. It completely depends on how quickly you adapt to and read the conditions.
“A lot of us, having played so much T20 cricket of late, will have to be patient when playing Test cricket. Mental toughness is very important. When switching to the longer format, you sometimes tend to try too many things too quickly. Wickets don’t come easy in Test cricket, so patience is the key.”
India won their maiden Test series in Australia when they toured last time around in 2019. They won the series 2-1 in the absence of two top-class players from Australia - Steve Smith and David Warner. However, Kuldeep didn’t really accept the fact that the series win was largely possible due to the omission of those two stalwarts.
“You need to win Test matches to win a series. We won two of them, and could have won the fourth one too had there been no rain. The criticism holds no merit. Whenever you are playing against a team, your own team’s performance matters the most.
“So instead of looking at the other team – who they have in their squad, and who they don’t – it makes more sense to talk about your own team,” Kuldeep asserted.
Kuldeep has been part of the Test squad for a long time but he has been given a long break from Test cricket due to indifferent performances, especially in overseas Tests. The chinaman bowler has played a couple of Tests against Australia. While he did make a mark in the Dharmshala Test - his debut, he also picked up a five-for in Sydney on the last tour. Yadav feels that if the fast bowlers can rise to the occasion, India can beat Australia again in the Test series.
“We did well, and hence we won the Test series. If our fast bowling works well and we perform as prolifically with the bat as we did the last time, we will win this time too. Yes, their team has now improved with the return of the experienced David Warner, Steve Smith, and the likes of Marnus (Labuschagne), who has really done well for them in recent times.
“But last time too, their team was good but we played some really, really good cricket to win. Looking forward to the challenge once again, it’s going to be a great contest.”
Kuldeep has grown up idolizing Shane Warne just like several wrist spinners from his generation. When asked whether he had taken any piece of advice from his idol, Kuldeep said that Warne has always suggested him to wear a smile on his face to hide the stress.
“He has shared a lot of valuable inputs about bowling over the years, but mainly, he talks about mental preparation. One thing he always insists on is to always wear a smile on my face. He has told me that’s a very important virtue for a spinner. If your face shows any sense of stress, your body language goes for a toss.
“I’ve worked on this specifically and I consider it as one of the best advice I’ve got,” Kuldeep added.
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