With his tremendous run off late, spinner Kuldeep Yadav is making rapid strides in the international cricket circuit. However, the ultimate challenge is to bowl long spells consistently in the Test format, claimed the 22-year-old.
Along with Yuzvendra Chahal, the duo have powered India to back-to-back limited overs series win against Sri Lanka and Australia. In the process, they made sure that the team does not feel the absence of seasoned pros like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
However Test cricket remains Yadav’s priority – a format which brought him into the limelight after a successful Test debut against Australia in Dharamsala, last March.
“The last six months have been great and I have got plenty of chances to play for India,” he was quoted as saying by PTI. “When you are starting off, you want to play each and every game for India irrespective of format. But in the longer run, I would love to win as many Test matches as possible for my country.”
Former India spinner Bishen Bedi had recently said he would like to judge Yadav after he has done the hard yards in Test cricket. Yadav accepted the legendary spinner’s view-point with utmost humility.
“He has been a great of the game and I understand where he is coming from,” Yadav said. “Bowling long spells in first-class cricket is something I have always looked forward to. There is no better feeling for a spinner than getting a batsman out after setting him up. That sort of planning is only possible in the longest format.”
Yadav’s strength has been his accuracy, which is fairly tough for a left-arm wrist spinner to maintain. However, it has not always been smooth sailing for him, having being hammered on a couple of occasions in the just concluded series against Sri Lanka.
He went for 75 runs in 10 overs after he became the third Indian to take a hat-trick in one-day in Kolkata. And during the T20I series against Australia, he was taken to the cleaners by Moises Henriques and Travis Head leaking 46 runs in four overs.
“It just goes to show that every day is a new day in international cricket,” said Yadav. “Having said that, getting a hat-trick was like a dream. I never thought I could do that so early in my career.”
Yadav loves bowling to the left-handers and two of his victims at the Eden Gardens were southpaws Ashton Agar and Matthew Wade, before he had right-hander Pat Cummins caught behind with the wrong one to complete his hat-trick. “I think I am more effective against the left-handers but I did enjoy getting Cummins out that day,” he said. “I went for the wrong one and it worked.”