India vs England | I never bowl looking at who the batsman is, says Kuldeep Yadav

23-year old Kuldeep Yadav has been the man of the moment for India after his stunning display in the first ODI that earned him the man of the match award and gave India a brilliant start. After the performance, Yadav has expressed his desire to play in the longest format stating that he was hoping to be called up for the Indian Test squad to face England next month.

Virat Kohli & Co. raced away to an eight-wicket victory against England courtesy of a match-winning performance by Yadav with the ball and a stunning century by Mumbai Indians skipper, Rohit Sharma. Yadav has certainly embraced the limelight with both hands as the visitors lead the three-match series by a margin of 1-0. However, the lad from Uttar Pradesh was adamant that he never gave too much importance to the batsman at the crease while bowling and sticks to his own strength.

“It doesn’t matter to me because I never bowl looking at who the batsman is. In my mind, I am only thinking about how I can contribute to the team. Sometimes you are not able to perform and then you realise where you have made mistakes or gone wrong. So when I played in Cardiff I looked at where I went wrong, maybe I was not able to read the batsmen properly and it happens,” said Yadav in the post-match conference.

Yadav has been in fine form since the dawn of 2018 and was also instrumental in KKR’s convincing outing in the IPL this year as they finished third behind CSK and SRH. The spinner, who has forged a formidable duo with Yuzvendra Chahal, revealed that he hoped to be called up for the Indian Test squad to face the Britishers for next months five-match Test series.

“Whatever cricket I played in growing years, I played on cement wickets and I used to turn the ball there. So I am very grateful to be playing on turning tracks now, I am very lucky. You should have the ability to turn the ball, in your fingers, and you can put in body effort, pivot, finger release, if all that is good the ball will turn.

“If it is turning on this wicket then it will turn everywhere else. In your heart, you cannot be afraid that you will get hit and you cannot be under pressure. Talking about test cricket, I am hoping for the call and let’s see what happens in a couple days when they announce the Test team,” Yadav added.