Courtesy: BCCI/Google
Kuldeep Yadav, the Indian unorthodox spinner, made his comeback to the national team in the recently concluded ODI series against England after recovering from an injury, which had put him on the sidelines for months. After Kuldeep Yadav picked up a couple of wickets in two ODIs of the series, former Indian cricketer and analyst Sanjay Manjrekar was worried about the speed of his bowling, wanting him to slow it up like his English counterpart Adil Rashid.
Notably, Adil Rashid took seven wickets in three matches for England against India, including the best figures of 4/64 despite the team losing the ODI series 0-3 in a clean-sweep. Meanwhile, on his return to the Indian setup, Kuldeep Yadav wasn’t quite as effective as him with the ball in hand, managing to take just two wickets of Saqib Mahmood and Tom Banton in two different matches.
Kuldeep Yadav worries me a little with the speed at which he bowls: Sanjay Manjrekar
Indian cricket team’s requirement as a spinner, but it undermines his skill. He was quoted as saying, “Kuldeep Yadav worries me a little with the speed at which he bowls. There was a lot of criticism about how slow he was, but the concern was about the ball coming slow off the pitch, not through the air. To counter that, he has compromised, and understandably so, to fit into the team’s demands.”
“It’s almost like he had to bowl quicker to stay in the team. But now, he is only bowling quick and flat. His real strength lies in deception and turn. The faster you bowl, the less you achieve that, making you more dependent on the pitch,” he further stated.
After that, Sanjay Manjrekar compared Kuldeep Yadav with leg spinner Adil Rashid, wanting him to emulate the English player. He remarked, “In comparison, Adil Rashid had a great series against a quality Indian batting line-up. His wickets came by going through the defence of top players. If you look at his speeds, they range widely, unlike Kuldeep, who mostly stays in the high 80s. Maybe he could take a leaf out of Rashid’s book.”
