How Kuldeep Yadav found his way back to Indian team with help from Ricky Ponting and Sunil Joshi

The past few years have been rather dramatic. He has been in and out of the side since the 2019 World Cup. The sudden loss of form was one of the reasons. The perception was that he needed to work on the speed of his bowling; that the fizz was lacking and turn too slow to beat the batsmen. The relationship with his IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), who he helped to become champion, soured drastically. He never got that backing from the Indian team management when he needed it the most. In the telling of then chief selector Sunil Joshi, the situation was rather dire that he felt he needed to step in.

The comeback

The Kuldeep Yadav 2.0 began during Covid-19. He started working tirelessly on his speed with his childhood coach Kapil Pandey in Kanpur. In 2021, Sunil Joshi, a former left-arm spinner, took him under his wings at the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

“I was part of the selection committee when Kuldeep Yadav got dropped. Who came to the rescue? None of the coaching staff, I was the one who got his delivery stride shorter, front arm better, arm speed better, got him to rip more revolutions on the ball,” he tells The Indian Express.

Joshi says the transformation was appreciated by the former coach Ravi Shastri.

“Suddenly, everybody is talking about Kuldeep Yadav. Ravi Shastri asked Sunil, what have you done with Kuldeep? I said, ‘Ravi bhai I have not done anything special. These are the simple things that a bowling coach should be doing’. If you look at Kuldeep 2.0, his front arm is nice toward the target, his bowling arm is towards the target, he is running towards the target. Shorter stride, there is a free follow through, he has got quicker through the air. You look at the way he is bowling now,” says Joshi.

Left in the lurch

Joshi fixed a few technicalities in Kuldeep’s bowling and Kuldeep was training hard under the care of his coach Pandey but there was something still missing. An empathetic hand on the shoulder was missing at the big stage. The retirement of MS Dhoni also played a big part in his decline; the insightful call of help from behind the stumps – ‘Beech waale dande se daal sakta hai (Can pitch it on the middle stump)’ was missing.

In IPL 2021, he didn’t feature in a single game for the KKR and left the bubble after suffering a knee injury, which forced him to go for a surgery.

The coach Pandey identifies that as the toughest point in the journey.

“The dip started when he was not given a chance by KKR. But he kept working. I have seen him training from 6 pm to 12. Sometimes I had to pull him out of the ground. He was working on his length, on his speed as he was instructed by the Indian team management,” recalls Pandey.

“But sadly, he was not given a chance again for KKR. I can vividly recall the conversation, he told me ‘Sir, I don’t know what is happening.’ I told him to keep calm, this is cricket, and this sport tests you nine out of the 10 times’. It was challenging for him because he wanted to make a comeback. With no game time, he was not able to show the things he has worked upon,” he says.

“In cricket, there are likes and dislikes. IPL is like a corporate organisation, where you can’t question authority,” says Pandey taking a swipe at KKR.

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Backing from Ponting and Pant

In hindsight, the knee injury in September 2021 proved to be a blessing in disguise for Kuldeep. He was released by the KKR and the move to Delhi Capitals gave him a lifeline.

In the first camp with the Capitals, he was given assurance from the captain and coach that he would get to play all the matches.

“Ricky Ponting told him ‘I am going to play you all the matches. There is a reason Warnie (Shane Warne) likes you and I can see why. You are going to be our matchwinner’,” recalls Pandey.

In Pant, who is junior to Kuldeep, he got a captain who started to help behind the stumps.

“Rishabh told him ‘aapko acha karna hoga bhaiya, aapse bada bowler nahi hai India mey (you have to do well, there is no better bowler than you in India)’,” says Pandey.

“Shane Watson worked on his batting. He found a home at Delhi and you can see the performances,” adds Pandey.

Kuldeep ended up taking 21 wickets in the IPL 2022, his best 4 for 14, was against KKR; he bagged the player of the match in both games against his former team.

From hunting in pairs with the ball to summing up @imVkohli‘s one-handed grab 🙌

Presenting Bowling Brilliance from Barbados ft. @imjadeja & @imkuldeep18 😎 – By @ameyatilak

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The sword hanging on his neck

Kapil Pandey says the other thing that he has realised is that he can’t afford to have a slip up. He knows he will be dropped if he does not perform well.

“He has understood that there is a sword hanging on his neck. He will have to perform well in all the matches, he can’t afford to do badly even in one game,” says Pandey.

“Every time he is being dropped, there will be a new excuse. He bowls too slow, he is getting predictable, he is not good with the bat, the team combination is not right,” laughs Pandey.

Pandey recalls the Test series in Bangladesh, where he was dropped from the second Test, despite taking an eight-wicket haul and the crucial 40 in the first innings. His player of the match performance was not enough for Kuldeep to keep his place in the next match. The stand-in captain KL Rahul had then said: “Hard decision on Kuldeep.”

The former India captain Sunil Gavaskar didn’t mince his words. “Dropping a Man of the Match, that is unbelievable. That’s the only word I can use and it’s a gentle word,” he had said then.

Pandey says that decision left him in tears but it was Kuldeep, who calmed him down over the phone from Dhaka.

“After the surgery when he started bowling, I have seen him training for eight hours in a day. After every spell, he would keep an ice pack on his knees. Sometimes I had to pull him out from the ground. And then when he was dropped after winning a Test match for India, I was furious. I had no words to console him,” says Pandey.

So what Kuldeep told Pandey from Dhaka that turned the tears into a smile? “baccha bada ho gaya (He has grown up now),” says the coach.

“He told me ‘sir baadal suraj ko kitne dino tak chipa kar rakh sakta hai’ (For how many days the grey clouds can cover the sun?),” Pandey recalls Kuldeep’s words.

During the post-match press conference after his 4 for 6 bowling performance against West Indies, when he was asked about the experience of being dropped despite playing well, Kuldeep would say: “This is a normal thing in cricket. This is a team sport, where combinations matter a lot.”

With the 50-over World Cup to be held in India in two months time, Kuldeep is oozing with confidence, and most importantly, he is carrying the advice of his idol Shane Warne, who, ahead of the Sydney Test in 2019 had told him, “I don’t care however you bowl, just have a smile on your face.” Kuldeep is just following the advice of the master.

Kuldeep in ODIs (2023)

3 for 53 vs Sri Lanka (Eden Gardens)

2 for 16 vs Sri Lanka (Thiruvananthapuram)

2 for 43 vs NZ (Hyderabad)

1 for 29 vs NZ (Raipur)

3 for 62 vs NZ (Indore)

1 for 48 vs Australia (Wankhede)

0 for 12 vs Australia (Vishakhapatnam)

3 for 56 vs Australia (Chennai)

4 for 6 vs West Indies (Bridgetown)

1 for 30 vs West Indies (Bridgetown)

2 for 25 vs West Indies (Tarouba)