How Kuldeep Yadav prepped for England tour with Kevin Pietersen’s advice and bowling-action tweaks

Kuldeep and Pietersen would go through the entire England batting line-up, one batsman at a time, and assess their strength and weakness. (Image credit: Sportzpics)

It remains to be seen if the left-arm wrist spinner, a rare breed of bowler that batsmen aren’t used to playing, gets into the playing XI at Edgbaston. India trail 0-1 in the series, and their most incisive bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, will in all likelihood miss the second Test. India desperately need wicket-takers. Kuldeep’s new aggressive bowling approach, and his refined action and stellar performance in white-ball cricket makes him the obvious choice. But will the Indian team management, obsessed with batting deep, compromise on a batsman or all-rounder to include the proven wicket-taker?

Locals say the pitch at Edgbaston slows down gradually. At Headingley on an unresponsive pitch; Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur struggled to make an impact. With pacers ineffective on the tour so far, will India take the spin punt by playing both Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep? The two contrastingly different left-armers, bowling in tandem, sounds promising for a team looking for a quick turnaround in the series.

Kuldeep knows the importance of taking wickets. “Apan ko kuch aata nahi hai bowling ke aalava (I don’t know anything other than bowling). If you don’t take wickets, you can’t justify yourself for playing in England. If you don’t take wickets, I don’t think you deserve to play. But I know one thing, wherever one is playing, at home or in England. I have to get the revs on the ball and the drift and that will get me wickets.”

Having secured a five-for when he last played against England, the final Test at Dharamshala when India won at home, Kuldeep comes to these shores with a reputation. “The pitches in that series were batting-friendly. The Test matches went for 4-5 days. England conditions are different but as a spinner, I believe that it won’t be that different. Besides, the way England bat, I think the spinners will be in the game,” says Kuldeep, subtly suggesting that he didn’t take wickets on spin-friendly pitches in the last series and can get England’s attacking Bazballers on true tracks this time around.

Kuldeep’s confidence comes from the adversities he has overcome over the last few years. Around 2021 when he underwent a knee surgery, it was suggested to him by the medical team that he needs to change his action. His slow run-up, his landing on the pitch and gradual pivot was putting a lot of pressure on his front leg.

Kuldeep had been bowling with the same action since the time his coach in Kanpur, Kapil Pandey, convinced him to switch from pace to spin. A pre-teen Kuldeep wanted to be Wasim Akram. The budding left-armer could swing the ball but didn’t have pace. His straight-talking coach asked Kuldeep to try spin. To his coach’s surprise, he would use his wrist, not fingers, to give revs on the ball. And thus, at age 13, Kuldeep was a Chinaman, a left-arm spinner.

Now close to a decade-and-a-half later, Kuldeep was being advised to change the action that got him fame, fortune and the India cap. But as Kuldeep puts it, “When a doctor tells you something, you need to take it seriously.”

He recalls the conversation he had with Ashish Kaushik, the head physiotherapist at the National Cricket Academy. “When I had knee surgery Ashish Kaushik told me ‘KD you have bowled so much over the years that your front foot has taken too much load. Because of twisting and turning there could be a problem for you going ahead’. I didn’t give it too much thought initially but things that doctors say stay in your mind,” recalls Kuldeep.

Kuldeep’s mind started ticking. For starters, he would increase the speed of his run-up as that would help him to glide through his action quickly. Now, the planting and take-off of his front foot was quick, the knee was under less stress. “But I wasn’t sure about this new approach. After I returned home to Kanpur I would play a few league games. Instead of ambling I was now running to the crease. But with this fast approach, I was not getting balance. Then slowly, I changed the angle of my run-up. I started coming straighter. Coming in sideways, it was very difficult for me to get balance,” he said.

He would ask his coach about the change and was told that as long as he got revs on the ball it was fine. “Initially there were a number of problems. To flip your old action is very difficult. It took about a month and a half to get the rhythm. It would be there one day and not there the next. It took me 6 months to get the rhythm,” he says.

Once he got the rhythm back, Kuldeep faced a new problem because of his fast and aggressive run-up. “I need so much energy to bowl with the altered action, I couldn’t bowl more than 4 to 5 overs. The run-up was fast and my approach was aggressive. Even 4 overs in T20 was difficult,” he says.

That was the time he joined the Indian team with Rohit Sharma as captain. Rohit said he wanted him to bowl longer spells but with the same energy. “Soham Desai (Team India’s strength and conditioning coach) prepared me so that I started retaining my energy – I could give maximum effort for at least 6 overs,” he says. “You must have heard a lot of times in the match, Rohit bhai would keep asking me – Thak raha hai kya (Hope you are not tired)? Now luckily I have started putting in long spells of 8-9 overs. I have also put in 10-12 overs in Tests. It took me 3 years to get that energy to bowl a long spell.”

In case Kuldeep gets into the team for the Edgbaston game, this will be his first Test without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and R Ashwin on the field.

Kohli was the captain when Kuldeep made his Test debut, he was the one who presented him the cap. Rohit was the ‘big brother’ who understood him and even expressed his exasperation when he faltered. Ashwin, Kuldeep says, was his mentor and sounding board. Over the years, the two would have long conversations on the art of spin bowling, field placements and variations.

“Once Ashwin bhai had put an arm around my shoulder and told me ‘you have to take this spin legacy forward’,” says Kuldeep. For that he needs to get a game, starting with the Test in Edgbaston.