Kuldeep Yadav opens up on replacing Ashwin and Jadeja: The Indian chinaman bowler was asked about replacing the senior bowlers.
Contrasting to his primary skill, India chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has said that he is focusing on his batting these days. Laying emphasis on batting in crucial situations down the order, Yadav mentioned that he is working on his skill with the Batting Coach.
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“Of course, batting is important, be it in One Days or Test cricket. I am focusing more on batting, every session I am batting for 20 odd minutes. Batting becomes important in some of the close matches and I am working with Sanjay [Bangar] Sir,” Kuldeep Yadav said during the press conference on the eve of the second ODI against Australia at Nagpur.
Out of his 40 ODIs, Yadav has played the most opposite West Indies (9) and Australia (7). His 11 wickets against Australia have come at an average of 34.18 and an economy rate of 5.87. It is worth mentioning that he has the worst average and economy rate against Australia.
“Of course, it been two years [now] I am playing international cricket and I have almost played 10-12 matches against Australia in the ODI format. Nowadays, video analysis is there, it is very easy to pick any bowler,” he said about the opposition batsmen starting to picking him now.
“Shaun Marsh is a very good player of spin”
Yadav also admitted that the team management decided to not play him during the tour of Australia because Australia batsman Shaun Marsh was playing him well. However, the 24-year old cricketer sounded unperturbed by Marsh’s return for the second match tomorrow.
“Shaun Marsh is a very good player of spin bowling. In Australia, Shaun Marsh was playing really well [against me] and they [team management] wanted to give me a break for a couple of games.
“After that I studied Marsh’s batting and saw him playing a lot of deliveries on the front-foot and it paid off. But it will be important how I bowl to him in the next game if he plays,” Yadav was quoted as saying.
Majorly because of his rare bowling skill, Yadav was included into the team for the tour of West Indies in 2017. Having picked eight wickets in five matches at an average of 19.75, an economy rate of 4.05 and a strike rate of 29.2, Yadav finished the series as its highest wicket-taker.
“We haven’t ousted anyone”
India’s next ODI series witnessed the selectors dropping seasoned spinners in Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. While the latter was handed a comeback during the Asia Cup last year, Ashwin has since not played a single ODI.
Being asked about replacing Ashwin and Jadeja, Yadav denied any such notion of replacing anyone. He further said that he learns a lot from both the senior bowlers whenever they play together in Test matches.
“No, no, not at all. We haven’t ousted anyone. It’s just that we have got the opportunities and we did well. They [Ashwin and Jadeja] have always been doing well for India. In Test matches, Ash [Ashwin] and Jaddu [Jadeja] bhai are still playing.
“And we learn a lot from them. They have a lot of experience. When I am in the Test squad, I learn a lot from them,” Yadav added.
Before concluding, the cricketer from Uttar Pradesh said that he and fellow spinners in Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja are happy about performing for the team. “Whenever we got an opportunity, for me and Chahal, we have performed for the team and that helped the team to win, so happy about it.
“To be honest, me, Chahal and Jaddu bhai are playing really well so nothing much to worry about and we are focusing game by game,” Yadav concluded.
