Never scared of getting hit for sixes, says Kuldeep Yadav

India rode on Kuldeep’s guile and KL Rahul’s 101 off 54 balls to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

July 04, 2018 04:29 pm | Updated 04:29 pm IST - Manchester

Kuldeep Yadav celebrates after taking the wicket of Jos Buttler during the first T20 international match against England in Manchester on Tuesday.

Kuldeep Yadav celebrates after taking the wicket of Jos Buttler during the first T20 international match against England in Manchester on Tuesday.

Indian wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav says he never really gets perturbed when his deliveries are hit for sixes as a childhood drill has conditioned him well to deal with the pressure of bad spells.

Kuldeep shone the brightest in India’s eight-wicket triumph over England in the first T20 International last night, grabbing five for a 24 in a match-winning spell.

India rode on Kuldeep’s guile and KL Rahul’s 101 off 54 balls to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

“When I started playing cricket, my coach Kapil Pandey would make me bowl such that the batsmen hit me for sixes. I used to practice getting hit for sixes to understand how it happens in a real game.

“I don’t feel the pressure. That is something I have learnt very early on, and today I am not scared of getting hit,” said Kuldeep after his impressive haul.

Kuldeep also spoke about the basics that need to be done right.

“If you want to take wickets, you need to turn the ball. If the ball isn’t turning or drifting, then a spinner is not a spinner,” he said.

“If a spinner takes 4-5 wickets in a T20 game, then your team gets the advantage. Whatever I have learnt in childhood, I am trying to follow here.”

Sent into bat, Jos Buttler gave England a sound start before Indian bowlers pulled things back with variation of pace.

Kuldeep’s scalps on Tuesday included three wickets in his third over when he had Morgan (7) caught in the deep and Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root stumped by M.S. Dhoni for golden ducks.

Over that changed the complexion of England innings

Elaborating on that 14th over that changed the complexion of England’s innings, Kuldeep said: “England’s start with the bat was quite good. In six or seven overs, they had around 65 runs. Just when I came to bowl, I checked the wicket and it a bit dry.

“When I started, I varied my pace. I thought if I bowled a bit slower, maybe there will be chances. Then when I came to bowl in the second over, I kept the pace down, and increased the flight and maintained it. I maintained my length too.

“The plan was to stretch the batsmen, so that they don’t get any easy deliveries. I didn’t want to give them any pace, because it could’ve made things easy for them. I was varying my pace,’ he added.

Bamboozling England batsmen

Using his googlies, Kuldeep bamboozled the English batting line-up and the wrist spinner said his three-wicket over changed the momentum of the game in India’s favour.

“I never bowl looking at who the batsman is. I always try to do what I can do. Jos Buttler was batting well against me. I knew he wouldn’t take chances against me. So I was happy to give him that single, because the other batsman has never faced me (before),” he explained.

“Obviously they (Bairstow and Root) are quality batsmen. It is a good feeling when you take two wickets on the trot. It gives a chance to the team to build momentum for all the bowlers,” he added.

Later, Kuldeep returned to complete his five-wicket haul, a rarity in T20 cricket. He became only the third Indian bowler after Chahal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to do so, and only the second bowler, after Pakistan’s Umar Gul, to achieve this feat on English soil.

The wrist spinner stressed that on batsmen-friendly English wickets, line and length is key even for a spin bowler along with varying pace.

“If you bowl good line, good length and have good variation, any team will struggle against you. It happened in South Africa too. Line and length are important for a spinner, and if a bowler is varying his pace on it, then batsmen will struggle,” he said.

The second T20I will be played in Cardiff on Friday, and Kuldeep warned that a repeat performance is not a surety although he will strive for that.

“Look, it is my first tour to England. I think it is going quite well for me (till now). I have never bowled to them (English batsmen) earlier, so it was the first time, so maybe it was easy to bowl against them (in this game).

“Maybe after spending some time, they will be better prepared to face me in the coming T20Is and ODIs. So I am looking forward (to the challenge) in the next matches,” Kuldeep said.

Kuldeep completely deceived us: Morgan

England’s batsmen were “completely deceived” by Kuldeep Yadav in the opening Twenty20 International against India, conceded skipper Eoin Morgan, saying his side will have to revisit its plans on tackling the wrist spinner.

Kuldeep finished with exceptional figures of 5 for 24 at Old Trafford last night, a performance that played a crucial role in restricting England to 159 for 8, which India chased with eight wickets in hand for a 1-0 lead.

“We weren’t good enough in Bengaluru (when Yuzvendra Chahal took 6-25 in February 2017). But that was a different game. It was different today. Kuldeep took three wickets in four balls and deceived us. It wasn’t a case of us chipping the ball up in the air. He completely deceived us and I thought he bowled well,” acknowledged Morgan.

‘Will assess our plans’

“We didn’t get enough runs and were probably 30-40 runs short. I thought we got off to a brilliant start. Kuldeep bowled well but we know we can play him better than that. So between now and the next game, we need to assess our plans, make sure they are the right ones, and stick with them,” he added.

Kuldeep’s scalps included three wickets in his third over when he had Morgan (7) caught in the deep and Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root stumped by MS Dhoni for golden ducks.

Morgan called on the England middle-order to take a leaf out of Jos Buttler’s book in how to play spinners.

“That’s the hardest part about batting — starting against a spinner so we have to face more deliveries off him. Jos was playing him (Kuldeep) better but he had probably already faced 35 balls before he came on to bowl,” he said.

“Jos is a magnificent player of spin. If you go back and analyse how Alex Hales and Jos played him, it was actually pretty smart. They didn’t give him chances. They didn’t necessarily get away, but acknowledged he was bowling well. Then I looked to take on the short side, and it didn’t work. Then he got two of our guys out, Morgan added.

‘It is a challenge’

Asked what kind of different approach England batsmen can take to play Indian wrist spinners going ahead in the series, Morgan replied, “It’s like any other challenge. If you are facing someone who bowls 95mph, it is very difficult to replicate.

“If you’re facing a guy who turns it both ways, and disguises it well, it’s very difficult to replicate -- because there is nobody else who bowls like that. So you have to have a pretty clear plan, and stick to it.”

England were just coming off a 6-0 blanking of Australia across ODIs and T20Is. But the hosts found India too hot to handle.

India completely dominated the game with KL Rahul scoring 101 not out off 54 balls to romp home with consummate ease.

In fact, India were even better in the field, so much so that Morgan was left lamenting half-chances missed by his teammates.

“They played our spinners in smaller margins. It could have gone the other way if we had taken our half chances, like Chris Jordan on the boundary, or if Rahul got caught at point early in the innings. Then it would have been a completely different game,” Morgan said.

“He (Rahul) played extremely well and I don’t think anybody found batting as easy as he did today.

We have been talking in the lead-in, how this series and the next two weeks will be completely different (from the Australia series). We talked about every game in this series potentially feeling like an away game.

“They (Indian) are a strong side, a really strong side,” he signed off.

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