COLOMBO, Sep 17: Varying the speed of his deliveries and working on the angles have been key components of Kuldeep Yadav’s success since his return to the ODI set-up.
With a five-wicket haul against Pakistan, followed by four against Sri Lanka, Kuldeep not only completed his 150 ODI scalps but also deservingly won the Man of the Series award in the Asia Cup that concluded on Sunday.
“The last year and a half has been amazing. I’m enjoying my bowling,” Kuldeep said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
While T20 cricket doesn’t leave any room for experimentation, 50 over format has allowed Kuldeep to work on his left-arm wrist spin.
“In T20 format, just focus on the length and not on the wickets, but in ODIs you can vary your length and try a lot more different things. I have been working on my speed and angles with my coach after my injury.”
He feels he has been more aggressive in terms of buying wickets. “I have been more aggressive and it’s (ball is) coming (out of hand)very nicely.” But he also credited India’s pace attack for setting it up in every game.
“When the fast bowlers bowl like that, it’s very easy for a spinner to come and bowl.”
Ishan Kishan, who has had a good tournament as a middle order batter, was happy to open in the final but is pretty clear about his role in the side.
“I always love to open, the total wasn’t much, so it was a big yes (when asked to open) from my side. Can’t do much when you have only 50 runs on the board. But thanks to the skipper,” said Kishan after the match.
“We know our roles, we know how to prepare for the World Cup. We are playing against Australia, and I will be batting in the middle-order. We were prepared for any challenge, we spoke about it in the team meetings.”
When KL Rhul arrived in Colombo, he hadn’t played competitive cricket for more than four months and at the end of it, he has a hundred against Pakistan and 40 odd on a slow track against Sri Lanka to show for his efforts. Not to forget the catches taken.
“I was a bit worried a couple of weeks ago, but got to play some good games against competitive teams. Scored runs and was good with the gloves, a few boxes ticked for me,” Rahul said in a snap interview with broadcasters.
“Hopefully, this continues for the next couple of months. I have been playing in Bangalore since four months, beautiful wickets for batting there. Happy that I got to spend time in the middle, it was a good challenge.” Batting in middle overs, Rahul knows the importance of playing spin.
“Playing spin will be important in the middle overs in the World Cup, looking forward to that challenge. It’s good to play games where bowlers get help.” (PTI)
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