Kuldeep brings a point of difference to India’s XI, particularly against reverse sweeps if the pitches are not rank turners
Alagappan Muthu07-Feb-20242:53
Manjrekar: Kuldeep is the spinner for pitches that are not rank turners
Kuldeep Yadav has come all the way from square leg to pester Rohit Sharma about taking a review.Rohit is busy trying to get the opinion of someone with a better view of the delivery but Kuldeep isn’t letting him. So he comes to a standstill, raises his left hand, points it in Kuldeep’s general direction and trolls from all around the globe swing into action. They have a new meme to unleash.Introverts when they’re asked to come out Friday night. Rohit gif. The rest of the class when that one suck-up reminds the teacher they forgot to give homework. Rohit gif. Messi fans when they hear Ronaldo is better. Rohit gif. Ronaldo fans when they hear Messi is better. Rohit gif.Related
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The replays on the big screen show that restraint was the right option. Zak Crawley had not nicked that Jasprit Bumrah delivery through to the wicketkeeper and the camera once again finds Rohit, who offers a cheeky smile, claps exactly four times, and signs off with a double thumbs up. And once again social media is in business.Extroverts when they’re asked to come out on Friday night. Rohit gif. Two for one deals at your favourite cupcake shop on cheat day. Rohit gif. India fans to the Indian team for bringing Kuldeep into the XI. Rohit gif.As a gruelling five-Test series against England goes into a nine-day break between matches and the players from both teams have dispersed for rest and relaxation, there is a feeling that this whole thing is just getting started.India have held off all challengers at home, their spinners repeatedly showing up the opposition. Except that’s not been the case this time. Tom Hartley, Joe Root, Rehan Ahmed, Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir have taken more wickets (33) than R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep (23). While part of that is down to Bumrah claiming a large slice of the pie through his genius, it also says something about the two batting line-ups: England are quite settled, India are in transition.Rohit Sharma dismisses Kuldeep Yadav’s pleas to go for a DRS review•BCCIGiven that, it is possible the remaining three Tests will be played on pitches similar to the one in Visakhapatnam, the kind that starts out good for batting and then, with natural wear and tear, begins to offer more for the bowlers. In such conditions, it is crucial for a spinner to pose a threat in the air and that is what Kuldeep did with his left-arm wristspin in the second Test.He gave India their first wicket of the match, at a time when England had raced to 59 for 0 in 10.1 overs after India were dismissed for 396, leaving a lingering feeling they had underachieved in their first innings. The ball drew the left-handed Ben Duckett out into a rare forward defence and then dipped on him, leaving the batter away from the pitch of the delivery, giving the ball enough time to leap off the surface and hit the shoulder of the bat and pop to silly point.Later on the second day, he accounted for Ben Foakes with another beauty. The right-hand batter played for the legbreak spinning into him – and it was the legbreak – yet he was beaten on the outside edge. Because drift. Foakes was playing for a ball pitching on off stump but it drifted wider and therefore when it turned it didn’t turn into the middle of the bat as he expected. It shimmied right past the outside edge and crashed into the stumps.Then there was the deception of Ollie Pope. This was dip and drift, drawing England’s No. 3 out on the front foot, luring him a fair bit across his crease, creating a gap between bat and pad so he could surge through it. That reverse-swinging, stump-shattering, other-worldly yorker from Bumrah would never have come into existence if KS Bharat had been alive to the stumping opportunity Kuldeep had created against Pope. On the final count in England’s first innings, Kuldeep generated almost as many false responses (21) as Bumrah (24).
According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, England played only 12 reverse sweeps in the second Test as opposed to 50 in the first, and only two against Kuldeep, which were both dot balls
Most teams would be more than happy with this package. For India, however, Kuldeep has been stuck in a queue, behind two all-time greats R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja and the third guy Axar Patel who has a habit of scoring crucial runs down the order. Therefore, Kuldeep’s played only nine Tests in seven years for 38 wickets at 22.73 apiece. He was even dropped after being Player of the Match for an eight-wicket haul in his previous Test in Chattogram in December 2022.With Jadeja injured, though, there is space in the XI for Kuldeep. Even if Jadeja should return in time for the next Test, there is a strong argument to keep Kuldeep on as the third spinner.According to ESPNcricinfo’s ball-by-ball data, England played only 12 reverse sweeps in the second Test as opposed to 50 in the first, and only two against Kuldeep, which were both dot balls.This is what a wristspinner can do. Especially on a pitch like the one in Visakhapatnam, which had more bounce than the Hyderabad track on days one and two, so the top edge was in play if you opted to play a cross-bat shot. And on days three and four, the ball began to keep low, which made it doubly dangerous to hit across the line.Kuldeep has pressed this advantage further by altering his bowling action to become a wicket-to-wicket bowler – 71% of the deliveries he pitched in line with the stumps in the second Test were also going on to threaten them. He has also worked on his overspin, which helps the ball dip more sharply than the batter expects, and bounce higher than he is ready for. So, the reverse sweep, or even the drive, that they think is on is actually fraught with risk.Kuldeep Yadav’s drift meant Ben Foakes was beaten on the outside edge by a legbreak•BCCINow, none of this means that India have taken the ascendancy. Or that England will be backing off: England still scored at 4.61 an over against spin. Just that both teams are learning and evolving, and 1-1 is an apt scoreline.The third Test starting on February 15 is in Rajkot. That’s Jadeja’s home turf but hamstring injuries usually take longer than a couple of weeks to heal. Even if Jadeja does get back up to full fitness during this series, Kuldeep brings a point of difference to this XI, particularly against the threat India are facing and more so if the pitches are not rank turners.He even enjoyed vindication in the DRS stakes and, coincidentally, it led to the wicket that assured India their victory. Crawley, who was leading England’s charge towards the target of 399 on the fourth morning, went back to a ball from Kuldeep that pitched on the shorter side of the good-length area. It held its line and skidded through to hit low on pad. It looked to be heading past leg stump to the human eye. The on-field umpire clearly thought as much. But the ball-tracking tech stated otherwise, and the three reds triggered a jubilant celebratory run from Kuldeep and his team-mates mobbing him.When your crush agrees to go out on a date with you. Kuldeep gif. When mum and dad are out of town for the weekend. Kuldeep gif. When Test cricket is this much fun. Kuldeep gif.