Being dropped during the IPL season helped Kuldeep Yadav, says Brad Hogg
Brad Hogg believes that the tough IPL season, and consequently being dropped from the Kolkata Knight Riders’ playing XI, has helped Kuldeep Yadav. Hogg explained that it was vital for Kuldeep to undergo such a challenge early in his career as it brings out an improved version of him.
Having taken the young Indian under his wings at KKR, Hogg has seen a lot of Yadav up close. After spinning webs around most batsman he bowled at over a period of 24 months, Kuldeep came crashing down to earth with some poor performances at the IPL. Consequently, he was dropped from KKR’s eleven. But Hogg reckons Kuldeep has come out a better bowler because of it.
“I think he had a tough time getting dropped from KKR this season but it needed to happen, he needed that challenge to be tested and he came back with a vengeance and really performed well in the World cup. One thing that I have noticed is that he has been getting a little bit more overspin on the ball and he has been getting that extra bounce. So that is causing some trouble for opposition batsmen,” Hogg told GQ.
Playing at the World Cup, the youngster took his time to find his feet but slowly, the performances are returning to the levels the world saw him deliver in the last two years. During the match against archrivals Pakistan, he produced a ‘dream delivery’ to dismiss the classy Babar Azam. Hogg had a couple of comments to make on it.
“I don't think that is the ball of the century. I think I have seen a couple of balls from right arm leg spinners that have been better than that. That was just a regulation leg spinner which Babar Azam misread and paid the price. As I said it had extra bounce, extra over spin than what Kuldeep has had throughout his career so that shows the slight improvement that he has had,” Hogg said.
Throughout the cricketing fraternity, Kuldeep and his co-star Yuzvendra Chahal has proven to the world the importance of wrist spinners in a team. Hogg believes that Cricket Australia must work tirelessly to produce some future stars in that department.
“Australia have to make sure that they continue to rejuvenate leg spin around Australia, coach them in the right manner and coach captains on how to use leg spinners in a match. We have got a lot of work to do to. There is a lot of talent out there but we don't have the right coaching method to nurture them through. That is something we need to take care of,” Hogg said.