Being practitioners of the same ‘art form’, the world’s leading left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav finds young Afghan bowler Noor Ahmad fascinating and terms his fast-paced googly as a delivery which batters find it difficult to pick up. Kuldeep and Noor have been in good form for their respective teams and a lot will hinge on them when Delhi Capitals take on Chennai Super Kings in an away game in Chennai on Saturday. While Kuldeep has taken five wickets from three games at an economy rate of less than six, Noor is currently on top of wicket-taker’s list with nine victims and an ER of 6.83.
“He is bowling really well and I know him personally. He is someone who is trying to learn from everyone. We had a chat last night as well. I was sitting with him and we had a chat about how to go about the leg-spin,” Kuldeep told media persons during the pre-match media conference.
“And obviously, he has a lovely wrong’un and with that kind of a pace, it’s very difficult for a batter to pick,” the India international said.
“…..and especially when you play in Chennai, it’s always very difficult to score against any wrist spinner,” said Kuldeep, on a match that is being billed as a battle against Noor.
A champion bowler in his own right, Kuldeep also spoke highly about KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy, who has become an indispensable member of India’s T20 side.
“Varun has been brilliant from last one year. Obviously, he has been doing very well for KKR over the years. He has played some really good cricket coming up to this moment.” However, Kuldeep said that unlike Chakravarthy, who believes in sequencing deliveries that he would bowl to a particular batter, he chooses to remain way more flexible in his approach “Not with me. I am very flexible. I don’t have any sequence like how to go about. Just read the batter, what he thinks of me and what is the best delivery to bowl to any batter. I don’t have any sequence like 1, 2, 3. I don’t have it,” he said on his part.
Art of turning deliveries
T20 cricket has brought restrictive nature of bowlers to the fore but Kuldeep is a traditionalist who believes that a wrist spinner should be able to perform his primary skill – that is to spin the ball.
“I believe a wrist spinner, whether you bowl right or left arm, you have to learn the skill of spinning the ball and that’s what I have done over the years.
“Even now, I just look at how I can improve as a better spinner. Especially, my target is to play with the red ball as well. So, you have to develop that skill as well to spin the ball, the normal leg spin (for left-arm wrist spin, it is the delivery that turns into the right-handed batter).
“When you play the T20 format, it’s totally different because you have to contain the runs as well but at the same time, you have to pick the wicket in the middle.” Reading the mind of batters is paramount when it comes to staying relevant in modern day game, feels Kuldeep.
“You have to stay relevant in every game and you have to practice each and every day and just to keep working on reading the batters, what they are doing, and that’s what I’m doing.
“I’m just trying to read the batter, what they are doing and sticking with my strength and keeping things very simple. I mean, especially in all the formats, I am focusing on the length.
“It’s been fourth year with DC, so nothing changes. You get matured after playing so many games and understand what is your strength and obviously spinning the ball is my strength.” He spoke about his initial days in top flight cricket when he had learnt a lot watching late Shane Warne’s videos and later during his time at KKR and even after that Wasim Akram has given him useful tips.
“Wasim bhai is a very good friend of mine. I was with him in KKR (and) I enjoyed a lot with him. He spoke to me a lot about mental aspects,” he said.
“When I was young, when I was learning cricket… he used to ask me, when I was sitting in dugout, he used to ask me, ‘what will you do if you get to bowl?’ He used to ask me, ‘how will you bowl in this situation?’ He used to get me game-ready.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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