Need to be mentally very strong to play in IPL, admits Kuldeep Yadav

Prior to the game against RCB, Kuldeep Yadav had a rough start to the 2019 edition of the tournament, contributing very little to the side. The 25-year-old had a golden chance to set things straight against the Bangalore side at home in their second head-to-head clash of the season, but it turned out to be a disaster as carnage from the bat of English all-rounder Mooen Ali meant that Kuldeep ended up conceding 59 runs for just one wicket.  

After his bowling spell, Kuldeep was seen walking off with tears rolling down his eyes and a year later, the left-arm unorthodox spinner has admitted that he got caught in two minds in that encounter. Kuldeep further insisted that it is important for a player to be mentally strong to participate in the IPL.

“I feel when it is your off day you just need to focus on the next delivery and forget about what happened in the previous over or during the game. You have to be very strong mentally. And I was very disappointed with my performance in the last IPL game against RCB. Something else was going on in my mind but my heart was saying something else,” he told Cricket.com. 

The 25-year-old spinner from Kanpur also revealed that he was caught between his mind and heart and eventually that caused a downfall to his performance on the night. He regretted his decision of not letting the batsmen cross-over, which would have, in hindsight, allowed him to bowl to the other batsman. In the end, Ali’s cameo was the difference between an easy victory and a heart-break for the Knight Riders. 

“The two couldn’t sync properly. My mind was saying at that time that going around the wicket was the ideal thing but I thought maybe I should go towards the wicket and get him out. So that was where it went wrong. If the batsman is going really well against you then you have to give it to the batsman. Sometimes you need to bowl for a single and rotate the strike and let the next batsman come and then you can attack him. That’s what I feel,” he concluded.