Will be ready for competitive cricket in next few weeks, attests Kuldeep Yadav

06/08/2020

Kuldeep Yadav has revealed that he’s started to train outdoors and is bowling four hours everyday in the nets, and feels he will be ready to play competitive cricket in a few weeks’ time. Kuldeep further revealed that he is consciously trying to avoid the usage of saliva during net sessions.

Kuldeep Yadav encountered the biggest low of his international career in 2019 after he was dropped mid-way through the 2019 World Cup after a hideous showing against England, where he was whacked to all parts of the ground by the Three Lions batsmen. Like a plethora of other Indian cricketers, the IPL was expected to be Kuldeep’s platform to shine, after having found himself ousted from the T20 set-up, but the Covid-19 outbreak put an unexpected halt to proceedings, thereby also hindering the left-arm wrist-spinner’s charge to stake a claim for WT20 selection.

However, three months into India’s nationwide lockdown, the 25-year-old has now revealed that he has once again started to train outdoors and spends four hours everyday bowling in the nets. Kuldeep attested that in a few weeks time, he would be ready to once again play competitive cricket.

"I have started training at the Rovers ground in Lal Bangla area. In fact I am doing two sessions per day. In the morning from 7:30 to 9 am, I do my physical training. Then I go back home and come back in the evening. From 4 pm to 8 pm, I am regularly bowling in the nets," Kuldeep was quoted as saying by TOI.

"It's only been a week that I have started outdoor training. All this while, I was at home maintaining social distancing norms. Now I believe within the next few weeks, I would be ready for competitive cricket as and when it starts.”

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the International Cricket Council (ICC) came up with guidelines to follow once the sport restarts, and announced a major change in the form of banning the usage of saliva to shine the ball. Speaking on the issue, Kuldeep admitted that it was tough to do away with putting saliva on the ball, given it was a habit he’s been used to, since childhood, but stated that he is actively looking to curb the practice during net sessions.

"Look, since childhood, we have this habit of applying saliva on the ball to keep the shine. With new ICC rules in place, I am trying to get rid of the habit.

"I believe it needs to be imbibed in training sessions first. Hopefully, we will have some alternative in place.”

The 25-year-old also opined that he would like to see cricket resume with the Indian Premier League (IPL), once things get back to normal.

"Once competitive cricket resumes, I would prefer playing IPL. That is in case normalcy returns."