Everyone seems perplexed and disheartened to see Kuldeep Yadav getting dispatched to all parts of the ground, seeming like a shadow of his previous self.
He is a very likeable character, so there’s good reason to feel bad. But to understand his situation and what happened to him, we need to look back.
Kuldeep hit his peak in 2017-18 when he became an IPL regular and had an amazing overseas season for India. He was never a variation bowler – his strength was his stock legbreak and googly which, paired with the above-eyeline flight, was difficult to pick.
For spinners like this, when you start playing regularly, it’s only a matter of time before batsmen start to figure you out.
Specifically, when he became a worldwide menace, his action and biomechanics were analysed quickly and it was found that his round-arm action and release makes him put the ball in the slot, preventing him from late adjustments and him being slower through the air can be used against us.
This counter-strategy started to work fruitfully from 2019 IPL and that’s when Kuldeep realised that and told people around him that the ball was not coming out of his hand as he wanted to.
The World Cup was immediately after and he didn’t have a lot of time to do anything. Started off well in the World Cup but dipped very quickly after getting a smack from Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. He was dropped immediately after.
This was the time he worked to remodel his action and release. People kept questioning his snub but he had to get used to his new action before he could use it on the international stage.
He started with his new action in the IPL and it looked a disaster.
India’s Kuldeep Yadav (David Davies/PA via AP)
The trajectory was much flatter; he could adjust the change of pace now but that didn’t help. More staggeringly, he lost a lot of revolutions on the ball which used to give him the bite off the pitch, but still had his old weaknesses along with it.
His IPL side had to replace him with Varun Chakravarthy who offers much more control. People kept on pitching for Kuldeep’s selection, and the Indian think tank – despite being sure of his situation – gave him occasional opportunities in ODIs against Australia and England.
They were very much sceptical about him in Tests that’s why was not risked ahead of Shahbaz Nadeem or Axar Patel and was given a much less important role later just to satisfy the peer pressure.
Why couldn’t he evolve?
Spinners need to evolve regularly in modern day cricket to avoid perishing. Ajay Jadeja said the ready-made guidance from MS Dhoni prepared him mentally in such a way that he stopped thinking himself and that affected his adaptability in crisis.
Sometimes, as fans, by trying to back players we do more harm to them than help. Kuldeep has been a dear to us for so long but he really needs a break from top-level cricket for some time.
As much as I know him, mentally, he isn’t someone to fight in the muds of domestic cricket but on the other hand he needs to bowl more in competitive cricket to get over whatever problems he has been having. That can only be available in domestic cricket.
Until a couple of years ago, both Yuzvendra Chahal and Yadav were Virat Kohli’s strike bowlers in limited-overs formats for India. However, they are now fighting for survival and the upcoming IPL season will be crucial for them to regain confidence.
Yadav played only one international in Australia, an ODI, and then played one Test and two ODIs during England’s tour of India. His performance in the first two one-dayers against England was below par: 0/68 and 0/84 and he was dropped for the last match of the ODI series.
He hasn’t played a T20 since the IPL last season.
Kuldeep should have been back to domestic cricket long back. The only reason he wasn’t was because he wasn’t given any closure. That is why you need to give players opportunities to fail so that you can discard them and they get closure.
The Kolkata franchise, which already had spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy in their ranks along with Shakib Al Hasan and Pawan Negi, have also bought seasoned off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for this season.
Other than Kuldeep being one of his kind, there is nothing else that makes him a surefire starter in the XI.
It will be much better if fans understand his situation and let him be.
Playing the blame game will not help him, anyhow.
Hari
Guest
Play Yadav somewhere where he can play alongside someone like R Ashwin.
Csk Erode
Roar Rookie
Firstly He is an average bowler who got hyped up... Nothing's fair.. Any other Bowler can have an off-day but Kuldeep is no Warney .. I am on a rant but Cricket cares only if you deliver, or you get to kiss the floor ... And he is in India where every Household has a spinner in average... Even clubs have 3,4 kids battling for single spot..
Csk Erode
Roar Rookie
I get it, Kuldeep was a good bowler whose change of fortunes may hurt... But this ain't no fairytale.. Many talented bowlers are not even near selection ... And as talented as he is,, even Sachin or Kumble would not make it in this Indian setup by virtue of their greatness in respective batting /bowling talent/skill alone.(They were near allrounders to be honest)... This Kuldeep guy is none of that..And with KL Rahul and Rishab as good as they are,,Hardik in great Nick, India need just a stop-gap economical,frugal spinner... Ashwin, Washington,Varun etc are higher on talent and Caste quota.. Pandya,Chahar,Patel,Jadeja are all much influencial with bat,and gun fielders too... Then Chahal,Nadeem are also there... And surely Mayank,Shreyas etc will turn to bowl so as to cement their places ....
Mansi
Guest
Yes, Kuldeep is way too far from what he used to be Hope he come back with a bang
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
When you have the confidence you feel like you’re never going to lose it, when you haven’t got it, you feel like you’re never going to get it. But there is still time. Yadav is merely 26 years of age; many spinners only meet their peak in their thirties. It is time for him to turn over a new leaf and start again. The artist rose, the artist fell, but can he rise back up again.
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
Kuldeep Yadav had a mediocre ODI world cup: he picked up an underwhelming 6 wickets in 7 games and averaged 56.16. Batsmen toyed with his chinamans with imperious ease in a way they never had done before. The unfathomable Yadav was decoded. For the first time, he was defeated. All of a sudden, the same people who had praised him were now ridiculing him. The little voice in his head had broken free and bred insecurity with his now faltering self-belief. This experience either breaks cricketers or makes them. Kuldeep Yadav broke. The margin for error became smaller. Every failure was nit-picked brutally. Kuldeep wasn’t ready for all that; he had experienced the highs of international cricket, never the lows. And hence he deteriorated. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise. You may say that it is part of a cricketer’s job to handle responsibility but it is also the management’s job to choose who was ripe for the task. India’s management failed.
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
I think Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the most likely players who can replace Kuldeep Yadav in the XI. The consistency of his performances over the past few years has been unbelievable. Ashwin was also one of the leading wicket-takers in the recently concluded Test series against Australia and England. Ravichandran Ashwin, with his vast experience and knowledge of the game, could prove to be a vital addition. With the new ball, Ashwin can get through the defense of any batsman and could prove to be a game changer. With the duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal struggling, Ravichandran Ashwin might surely be the best option to replace Kuldeep in the playing XI. He deserved a second chance just like Jadeja.
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
See, I think it’s finally got to him where he realises what he needs to do, so he’s basically conforming to the needs of modern-day cricket. People wanted him to bowl quicker, and we saw Kuldeep Yadav bowl very quickly in England series. He mostly bowled in the mid-80s (km/h). There were few balls that was 70 km/h. Earlier he used to bowl many deliveries in the 70 km/h range. He bowled a 109 km/h delivery as well. He’s bowling that flipper, which on a couple of occasions, went as high full-tosses. So he’s trying to change, he’s trying to become something he’s not. And in the process, this was the first time I have seen Kuldeep Yadav lose his accuracy,” He started off by bowling almost rank short deliveries, and I have never seen him not being accurate. And one final point about him, and very critical as well – there was just one ball that he bowled outside the off-stump for the right-hander. He focussed on just bowling middle and leg stump line which is the line of a bowler who is slightly defensive, worried about getting hit for fours and sixes. Whether that was the brief, I don’t know, but the change of line and the pace and the loss of accuracy tells me there are a few things going wrong with Kuldeep Yadav.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Very good overall record. The greatest aspect of this record is this: The first person to get to 200 wickets was Clarrie Grimmet; 37 Tests from memory. He was the previous record holder for the fastest. The key to this statement is that over 60 bowlers have tried, since Grimmett, and none have got there faster till Shah. ------ Those last 11 tests are a worry.
Paramdeep Rathee
Roar Rookie
In his first 40 test matches, Yasir Shah has claimed 221 scalps at an average of 30.17. Interestingly, he has more wickets than Australian legend Shane Warne and Indian stalwart Anil Kumble, who recorded 187 and 168 wickets respectively after the 40-Test mark. The former tops the chart with most number of wickets among leg-spinners in the first 40 Tests. Yasir's record in overseas Tests has been exceptional. He has accumulated most number of Test scalps among Pakistan bowlers away from home, since January 2015. During the period, he took 99 wickets from 21 Tests at an average of 35.85. The 34-year-old is followed by Mohammad Amir (61), Mohammad Abbas (42) and Wahab Riaz (37) on the tally. Yasir Shah's prowess in the fourth innings of a Test has often done the trick for Pakistan. In the last five years, he has accounted for 48 fourth-innings wickets from 16 Tests. He averages an incredible 23.00 while defending a total in Test cricket.
Brian
Guest
Being 26 he needs another 1-2 years of playing cricket. Ranji trophy, IPL, county cricket wherever he can he needs to bowl overs to understand himself and the game better. Then in 2 years pick your best format and stick to it. Being on the fringes of the Indian team is probably doing more harm then good
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
I think it's just that 20/20 and ODI are horrible forms of cricket. I reckon all bowlers hate the format. Everyone gets tonked. Alas they pay the bills and poor old Kuldeep must ply his trade.
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
Was that even real? I watched him go from 182 to 201*, old style through the window of a Retravision shop, and still don't believe it. I already knew that he'd been 102 not out overnight. And didn't believe that. The shock that he still appeared to be in did my head in.
Paul
Roar Guru
This piece highlights to me just how tough it is to be a wrist spinner in world cricket these days. IMO these types of bowlers have to make way more adjustments than any other bowling type, if they're going to be competitive at all three forms of the game. In Yadav's case, I'd have asked him to focus on Test bowling, then ODI bowling, with him only playing T20's in places like Australia, where his greater turn would be a real bonus. In Indian conditions, his extra turn is wasted, which is why the finger spinners have such a good time of it.
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
As a KKR fan - Kuldeep never showed any willingness to improve. When KKR went through a clean slate in 2018, Kuldeep struggled to consistently step up as a senior member. Moeen slogging him all over Eden ruined his confidence which he never found back. Needs to be dropped from ODI's to give Shreyas Gopal a go. His bowling goes worse every time he tries to bowl quicker
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
And Dizzy is the greatest exponent of that!
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
He did get a 100 though in the lean period. No mean feat. Good old Hoggy went from 51 in 8 tests to 123 in 38. tests Late in his career he scored 52 at no 11 vs the West Indies. There is no moral here, except bad luck with the ball can lead to more determined batting.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
More curious is Yasir Shah. Fastest person to 200 wickets in his 33rd test. He now has played 44 tests for an increase of only 34 wickets. Baffling!