After getting a pasting against England in Lord's, Kuldeep Yadav was sent back home. He made a comeback against the Windies in the Test series and was back among the wickets. He was then picked for the Australian tour and, after missing out in the first three matches, he was in the playing XI for the Sydney Test.
The young man made an immediate splash as he picked up 5 wickets to derail the Australian batting order. The Australian batsmen were unable to pick his variations and this forced them to go for their strokes which only aided Kuldeep.
Shane Warne, who has always been impressed by Kuldeep, took to Twitter to praise the young man. It should be mentioned here that Kuldeep has always viewed Warne as his idol and was very chuffed to have picked up a 5-wicket haul in the presence of his idol.
Well bowled & congrats on your 5 wicket haul @imkuldeep18 also, thankyou for your very kind words - it’s been a pleasure to work with you & watch you bowl my friend ! ? pic.twitter.com/35vNtL8qp5
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) January 6, 2019
"Test cricket is similar - the more you play the better you can read batsmen. There is time enough to plan for batsmen, you can bowl more overs and change fields," Kuldeep said after day 3.
"When I came from Lord's test, I bowled for a week with my coach and played India-A Test series against Australia-A. I performed well there because when you get rhythm, the ball comes out well and then I played against West Indies and did well," he further added.
Speaking about the influence of Ashwin and Jadeja, the young man was humble enough to concede that he does not view them as competition, but learns the tricks of the trade from the two experienced spinners.
"When you know you have Ashwin and Jadeja, best spinners in the world, and you are the third one, so then there is a lot to motivate yourself and learn from them. They keep pushing me in the nets that you have to bowl this way and in good areas," he said.
