I never liked spin and always wanted to be a fast bowler: Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav, the Indian left-arm spinner, has revealed that he always wanted to be a fast bowler and didn’t like spin bowling when he was growing up. Though he hasn’t played a lot of international cricket in the last 12 months or so, he has been part of the national squad. He is next set to be a part of Team India in their upcoming Test series against England, starting February 5.

Kuldeep stated that he could swing the ball both ways at a young age. Kuldeep was angry to the extent that he skipped training for 10 days after which threw in the towel. The Uttar Pradesh-born made the revelations during a video on Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) official Facebook page.

I was initially very displeased: Kuldeep Yadav

“Fast bowling appeared easy back then. I think I was good at fast bowling. Even my coach used to feel the same because my wrist would work well. I could swing the ball both ways even at the age of 10-11 years. But the hurdle was my lack of growth. So he asked me to switch to spin bowling,” Yadav told.

“I was initially very displeased because I never liked spin and always wanted to be a fast bowler. I was angry, but when he told me to bowl spin, I tried and started off bowling Chinaman (left-arm wrist spin) in the very first attempt,” Yadav stated.

“I was very angry and didn’t go to the ground for ten days, as I was determined to continue with fast bowling. But Sir said if I really wanted to play cricket and come to the ground, I had to take up spin bowling. So I went back to the academy after ten days,” he added.

Kuldeep hasn’t had the best of times in recent times. Even in the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL), he played only five matches and could only manage a solitary wicket. He went to Australia with the Indian team but played a warm-up match and one ODI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.  In six Tests, 61 ODIs and 21 T20Is, Kuldeep has picked up 24, 105, and 39 wickets respectively.