They hunt in pairs but Kuldeep Yadav feels that he still needs to learn from his “senior partner” Yuzvendra Chahal on how to plan for a particular batsman.
Kuldeep, after an indifferent IPL, was back in rhythm during the opening game against South Africa where he got JP Duminy’s wicket and bowled well in tandem with Chahal.
Asked what he has learnt from Chahal, Kuldeep said: “He is more experienced than me. He has a very good idea of how to bowl to a certain batsman and I need to learn from him,” Kuldeep told reporters following India’s win over South Africa in their World Cup opener.
“I am feeling good about how the ball is coming out of my hand. Chahal and I could execute the plan we had chalked (against SA). We checked the flow of runs in the middle overs and also picked wickets,” the left-arm wrist spinner said.
He had only 4 wickets from 9 games for KKR in the 2019 IPL but he went back to the drawing board with his childhood coach Kapil Dev Pandey.
“T20 is different from ODI and after IPL got over, I went back to my coach, practised for 10 days and fixed all the problems. I needed to get back to my basics,” the chinaman said.
With bounce being his primary weapon, he worked on altering pace on his deliveries. “I needed to be back at my best in a big event and I mixed pace with variation. In England, the wickets will be flat and there won’t be too much help from the wicket. So, we need to alter the pace of our deliveries and use it as a variation,” said Kuldeep.
Last year, his career-best six-wicket haul came against England in Nottingham and he fancies doing well once again. “I have always had good performances abroad as I rely on bounce off the pitch. Batsmen don’t go on back foot and you always are in with a chance if they are coming forward,” he signed off.