England seemed to have no idea about Kuldeep Yadav, says Mohinder Amarnath

India started their England tour in style with a massive eight-wicket victory over the hosts, courtesy an impressive performance from youngster Kuldeep Yadav, who disrupted the England batting line-up and ended up with his career-best figures of 5 for 24. Mohinder Amarnath pointed out that England doesn’t seem to have any idea about Kuldeep Yadav’s bowling and also suggested that the best way to play Yadav would be not to try and slog him. 

“England seemed to have no idea about him. They have not played a Chinaman bowler often and didn't read him at all. Besides, their mindset was to just go out and attack the way they did against Australia recently. They need to remember that India are a different team altogether. England are good against pace but they have been exposed by the fact that they are not reading Kuldeep. Buttler was really the only one reading the ball, the others were guessing. The best way for them to play someone like Kuldeep is to try not to slog him because he's comparatively slower in the air than Chahal," Amarnath, who played 69 Tests for India, wrote in his column for TOI. 

England had been in a good position at 94-1 but could only post 159/8 with Yadav's googlies at one point giving him three wickets in four balls on his way to his best figures in T20 Internationals. Amarnath seemed impressed with the performance and stated that he liked the way Kuldeep always keeps his wicket-taking attitude. 

“It doesn't surprise me that he did well; he's a crafty bowler. He's still young, but has been playing this format for a few years and has the right temperament. I like the fact that he is always trying to buy wickets, and not bowl wide, or trying to contain a batsman running away from him. That is the best way to play in any format of the game and why he has done so well," he wrote.

Yadav's performance was also a reminder that despite their vast improvement in limited-overs cricket, England remained vulnerable against spin. During England's tour of India, Chahal had taken 6-25 in the third T20I at Bengaluru in February 2017 and in the last game, the Indian chinaman wrecked havoc. While Chahal remained unsuccessful, he is too good a bowler to be ignored.

"Speaking of Chahal, he didn't have a good outing but he is a fantastic spinner. I would like him to bowl a bit straighter and try to buy wickets rather than bowling too wide and trying to contain batsmen,” he added.