Bowling on concrete pitches helped me a lot: Kuldeep Yadav

The left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav feels that bowling on concrete wickets has helped him a lot at the highest level. The youngster now is confident of turning the ball on any of the pitches around the world. He looks to be at the centre stage of the plans of the selectors and the team-management when it comes to 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England. He stole the limelight during the ODI series against Australia by picking up a sensational hat-trick at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The success of the wrist-spinning duo so far has kept the preferred bowlers in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja out of the side who were ‘rested for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. But now their names aren’t even being discussed as the Men in Blue are enjoying the success of wrist-spinners. Both bamboozled the Kangaroos by their variations and now they would want to be consistent against New Zealand as well.

It doesn’t matter where I am playing

In an interview to AFP Kuldeep Yadav expressed his confidence about picking wickets on any surface in the world. “It doesn’t matter to me where I am playing because since my childhood I have bowled on cemented wickets. So if you can turn the ball on concrete then you can spin it anywhere. If you have skill, good variation and are beating the batsmen in the air then you can find success anywhere,” he said.

He also revealed that he started his career as a fast bowler and then switched to wrist spin with the assistance of his coach. “I started my career in 2004 as a fast bowler. After practising for a few months my coach advised me to switch to spin. I did not like it at the start, but the first ball I bowled was wrist spin and I had no idea what it was. So, he must have thought I have a talent and he worked on it. Initially it was tough but when I got down to it, the hard work paid off,” Kuldeep, who hails from Kanpur, added.

Recently, the legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne compared the chinaman bowler with the leg-spinner of Pakistan Yasir Shah and also touted him to become the best spinner of India. “It’s great to be compared to a top spinner like Yasir Shah. It’s heartening to see praise coming from my idol. It reassures my belief in my talent. It makes me happy that he (Warne) backs me and I feel there is some more talent in me,” the mystery bowler concluded with a smile on his face.