Kuldeep Yadav: The Indian leg-spinner finds the much needed motivation from these senior-pros ahead of the World Cup 2019 in UK.
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4 wickets in 9 matches, at an average of 71.50. These were Kuldeep Yadav’s numbers after the end of this year’s IPL. A dreadful one indeed, especially for India’s premier spinner ahead of the World Cup.
What was more painful for the fans, was the fact that he was left in tears after the Moeen Ali assault off his bowling in the KKR vs RCB encounter at the Eden Gardens during the league stages. Ali hit him for as many as 27 runs in the 16th over of the match. After the completion of 17 overs, replays showed Kuldeep Yadav sitting on his haunches all teary-eyed, having a sip of water with Nitish Rana by his side.
Yadav’s bowling figures (1/59 off 4 overs), after the end of the match became the joint-most expensive spell by a spinner in IPL history. What’s more worse was the fact that he wasn’t given even a single IPL match thereafter.
Motivation from Dhoni and Rohit
In an exclusive interview with the Hindustan Times, Kuldeep has opened-up on the much-needed motivation that he had received from the senior members of the Indian team- MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma post his brief stint in this year’s IPL.
In the interview, he expressed how despite trying to remain positive after the aforementioned match, the pall of negativity continued to lay by his side.
“I wasn’t negative but wasn’t positive either at that time. When I was hit for so many runs in that over I was very disappointed. I knew I could get him (Moeen) out and we had a plan too but I just couldn’t execute it. The game slipped out of our grasp because of that over and that’s why I was very emotional,” said Kuldeep.
It is at this point in time that the calm demeanour and his loyal advisor from behind the stumps came to his rescue with some words of motivation.
“…Then Mahi bhai (Dhoni) passed on a message that I shouldn’t lose confidence, I need to focus on my game and that really helped me a lot. He has always been a pillar of support ever since I made my debut. People only talk about how he helps us from behind the stumps but it’s actually the work, the advice he gives us in-between or after the matches, that does a world of good,” Kuldeep said.
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Kuldeep also cleared the mist around the statement he gave a couple of days ago about Dhoni sometimes being wrong with his suggestions. “That was just a joke, nothing serious. In fact, it wasn’t a statement at all, we all were laughing. I cannot make such a statement about Mahi bhai,” Kuldeep said.
Rohit Sharma too had a word
Not only Dhoni, but even the current IPL champion- Mumbai Indians’ skipper too had some words of wisdom for the 24-year old spinner. “During the match against Mumbai Indians, Rohit walked up to me and motivated me a lot even though I was not playing, Kuldeep said.
He also spoke about Virat Kohli in the interview as to how he keeps on giving the necessary inputs regarding the areas he needs to improve upon, although he didn’t talk to him post the match where he received the drubbing against Moeen.
“I didn’t have the chance to meet Virat bhai after that match but we met earlier in the season, he always points out the things I need to improve. We are all like a family and that doesn’t change even during the IPL,” added Kuldeep.
Kuldeep Yadav, alongside Yuzvendra Chahal, are the two lone spinners (apart from the all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja) for India for their upcoming World Cup campaign.
Moreover, taking into consideration that scores above 300 are being scored and chased down easily almost every game in UK, the contributions from both the spinners would be vital for India in the middle overs to keep a check on the opposition team’s scoring rate. Thus, it would be essential for the senior pros from the side- the likes of Dhoni, Shikhar, Kohli, and Rohit to keep pouring in some words of advises or wisdom for the ones who are making their World Cup debut.
