Going into the fourth Test in Dharamsala, Kuldeep Yadav’s addition to the Indian side in place of Virat Kohli was an interesting and a brave choice by the team management. The left-arm chinaman bowler from Kanpur was always touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket and on the first day of the Test he lived up to his reputation by picking up four wickets. To win the Test and secure the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India will need to pick up 20 wickets and playing an unknown commodity like Yadav might just prove to be the trump card the hosts require.
For someone making his debut, Yadav’s attitude was great as he came up to bowl against a well set David Warner and Steve Smith in the first session of play. But in the 34th over of the Australian innings Yadav got David Warner out caught in the slips by Ajinkya Rahane. It was a classic chinaman bowlers dismissal as Yadav had his maiden Test wicket. It was the moment of joy that every debutant dreams of.
Chinaman bowlers are a rarity in India and world cricket. After featuring in today’s Test, Yadav joins the rare breed of Ellis Achong and Sir Garfield Sobers (West Indies), Tabraiz Shamsi and Paul Adams (South Africa), Brad Hogg (Australia), Lakshan Sandakan (Sri Lanka), as the other left-arm chinaman bowlers to have played a Test. Interestingly, Yadav is not only India’s 288th Test player but also India’s first left arm chinaman bowler. He is also the second such bowler from subcontinent after Lakshan Sandakan.
The main difference between a chinaman bowler and a conventional left arm spinner is that the latter uses his index finger as the spinning finger while the former’s ring finger is the spinning finger. A chinaman also bowls his googly from back of the hand. It is unique and different, making it all the more difficult to play. The wrong-uns sometimes tend to spin both ways and the best part about Yadav was his action and rhythm. Apart from his impeccable control, what stood out the most about the Kanpur lad was his ability to out-think the batsmen.
Lets take for instance the manner in which Yadav dismissed Maxwell. After Maxwell took him on and charged down the wicket to hit him for a six it seemed like the 22-year-old was in for a tough challenge. However, Yadav came back to pitch the next ball on a similar area. It was one on a good length which turned out to be a googly and Maxwell was bamboozled and the ball crashed on to the stumps. The dismissal was brought about through minimal alteration in length, and also a marginal reduction of pace.
https://twitter.com/cricketfreak07/status/845547215816941568
Yadav had been a star of the U-19 world cup where he became the first bowler (in U-19 cricket history) to have taken a hat-trick. His performances also drew comparisons with legendary Australian leg spinner Shane Warne.
In his maiden domestic season, he picked up 16 wickets. However, in the 2016/17 season season, he bagged 52 wickets. Ever since Kuldeep made his way into the Uttar Pradesh Ranji Trophy squad two seasons ago, he has been consistent. His plus points have been that he has stuck to the basics and bowled brilliantly and this is exactly why he got a call up with the national team.
Apart from his variations the Kanpur lad also has several other variations among which is a potent flipper. With so many weapons in his arsenal Kuldeep Yadav will definitely be the one to watch out for.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
