Harbhajan Singh reacts to Kuldeep Yadav's poor form in the IPL

At a time when India would have wanted Kuldeep Yadav to be at his absolute best keeping in mind the upcoming World Cup, the left-arm spinner seems to have lost his mojo. With just over a month remaining before India fly to England for the all-important World Cup, Kuldeep is looking like a pale shadow of his usual self who made India win a number of games in the last one year or so.

In 9 games so far, the Kolkata Knight Riders star has picked up just 4 wickets, a stark deep in his performance from the previous editions. In 2018,  Kuldeep took 17 wickets in 16 games, the year before 12 in 12 games. He, however, has failed to pick up wickets regularly this year. His economy-rate of 8.66 this season is the worst in his four season of IPL so far.  With a bowling average of 71.50, 2019 has – by far – been Kuldeep’s worst IPL season.

In fact, he was clobbered for 59 runs by Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen last week. The highlight of that game was the over when he was hit for 26 runs by Moeen Ali and was reduced to tears. The Knight Riders had then dropped Kuldeep for their following game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Kuldeep Yadav’s sudden loss of form is a major concern. However, veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh feels otherwise as he said the 24-year old will bounce back in the 50-overs format. The Chennai Super Kings also said that he has watched Kuldeep’s bowling this season and dismissed any apprehensions of a technical problem.

“There is no doubt that Kuldeep is going through a rough patch in IPL. T20 is a format which can destroy the confidence of any bowler but let’s not compare formats. One-day (match) is a different ball game and you will see a very different Kuldeep,” Harbhajan was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

“I have watched a bit of his bowling and I don’t think there is any technical problems. And please check who all are hitting Kuldeep? The Indian guys are primarily hitting him. Virat (Kohli) in two games, Mayank (Agarwal), Mandy (Mandeep), Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan.

“Leave aside Virat, who is in a different league, all these guys are competent players of spin bowling. They read Kuldeep’s wrists much better than foreign batsmen. So in World Cup, Kuldeep will be bowling mostly to those who are still not reading him well. I think you will see a different Kuldeep,” added Harbhajan.

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Harbhajan’s advise to Kuldeep Yadav

The veteran spinner also had a word of advice for the youngster. Harbhajan said that Kuldeep needs to show some situational awareness when he is getting hit.

“If he is getting hit by giving the deliveries more air, for a change, he can just push it a bit faster. If they are stepping out and hitting from length, he can just alter the length by half a yard. Now when you get hit, your mind does not work automatically,” said Harbhajan.

Meanwhile, unlike Kuldeep, Harbhajan has been doing extremely well for Chennai Super Kings. In 5 games so far, he has picked up 9 wickets while conceding at an economy-rate of 6.05.

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