Kuldeep Yadav - living a father's dream

Kuldeep Yadav - living a father's dream

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David Warner. c. Rahane. b. Kuldeep Yadav 56 (87). The bowler is now all pumped up and does a mini jump with a roar to make it sweeter. And why wouldn’t he be! For someone, who is playing the first match at the international level, it was a special moment and Kuldeep soaked it all in.

Kuldeep is a chinaman bowler, a rare art of spin bowling. Rare enough that in a country that is home to legendary spinners across eras, no one has ever tried to emulate that trait at the international level. There was the late Mumtaz Hussain, a Hyderabad spinner who despite having acquired the trait of bowling left-arm wrist spin at the local level, chose to bowl in the conventional style in the first-class cricket in the fear of leaking a lot of runs. He faded away and now, another one has arrived, who is brave enough to be persisted with the art. Kuldeep Yadav, the first Indian to take a hat-trick in an Under-19 World Cup match, has made his Test debut for India in the final Test match at Dharamsala against Australia today, becoming the first chinaman in history to play for India.

Kuldeep has not been a regulation story in Indian cricket. His story is not of rising through the ranks through sheer determination and defying the odds at every level to reach the pinnacle. Instead, his story is that of picking the leather to fulfill the dream of his father. Kuldeep didn’t have any interest in cricket rather wanted to pursue his studies so that he could become a doctor or an engineer. 

"My dad used to love cricket. I used to play around a bit of tennis ball cricket with friends but never liked the sport. I was never interested in cricket. I was good at studies. I was like, 'what has he done to me',” Kuldeep had once said in an interview with Cricbuzz.

His father took him to Kapil Pandey, a coach in Uttar Pradesh, who advised him to change his style to left-arm spin instead of bowling left-arm fast. But the first ball that he bowled was happened to be a chinaman. But Kuldeep was not happy to convert himself to a spinner at all, but in hindsight, he has said that it was the greatest thing to ever have happened to him.

“I wasn’t at all happy to bowl spin. I didn’t go to the ground for the next two-three days. Then my father told me I should go to the ground instead of sulking and crying at home,” Kuldeep told Wisden India. “I was young then, not very mature.”

“I had begun to bowl well. I developed a good wrong ‘un and one that came back in. I thought it was selectorial politics because I deserved to be on that side. My father had bought me new spiked shoes from Puma, which cost about 3500-4000 rupees, which was quite a lot. I thought of quitting cricket then. But Kapil sir and my father insisted I should play and said there will be chances in the future.”

Chances came and his talent was spotted by former India left-arm spinner Rahul Sanghvi and he awarded the youngster with an Indian Premier League (IPL) contract in 2012 with Mumbai Indians (MI), at the age of just 17. He later moved to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2014 and not long after, the national selectors called him up for the 2014 One-Day International series against West Indies, even before he had played a Ranji Trophy match for Uttar Pradesh. But, unfortunately, the series had to be stopped mid-way after West Indies players pulled out too protest against the board. 

But as they say, success can only be delayed, it can’t be denied, the fat lady smiled on Yadav yet again and he was handed his debut cap today. And the heartening aspect was that he had Sachin Tendulkar, of all people, talking about him.

After Steve Smith asked India to field on a pitch that had much assistance for batters, Kuldeep just focused on getting his length right in his first three overs, even as Steve Smith and David Warner were well-set on the wicket. 

The second ball of his international career was a length ball that Warner edged wide of the first slip to bring up of his fifty. That convinced Yadav, and he immediately tried the short one to which Warner didn’t have any answer. Taken aback by the continuous change of length, Warner tried to defend as much as he could, but another change in length, a googly, proved to be the Southpaw’s undoing.

 © BCCI

Smith was the only one who picked up all his variations as the new batsmen struggled to get into the groove. Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell both fell prey into Kuldeep, but the way he set them up was fascinating. He lured Handscomb to drive him on the on-side by keeping a mid-wicket and square leg in place and forced Maxwell to get out by pulling his length back a couple of balls after being hit down the ground for four. 

But who would have expected all this a couple of years ago, given Uttar Pradesh, as a team, have always been dependent on their pace-heavy attack? While Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Praveen Kumar took the weight of pace bowling on their shoulders, Kuldeep has never had a permanent place on the side. The 22-year-old is still an apprentice to Piyush Chawla - both at Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata Knight Riders. 

But he has been able to successfully fulfill his father’s dream, a middle-class man who wanted to see his son play the game at the highest level. A tear or two on Kuldeep’s eye after he picked Warner’s wicket made it all the more obvious and humane. He has now lived up to the expectations of his father and now, it is the time to live up to the lofty reputations he has created today - with the ball and with his wrist.

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