'I wanted to wake Virat up at 3 AM but I was sure he would get mad'

Picture Courtesy/ Kuldeep Yadav's Instagram

Kolkata Knight Riders' star Kuldeep Yadav recently revealed how he got up at 3 am ahead of his Test debut and was confused and nervous. Kuldeep Yadav has made a permanent place in the shorter formats for India and tasted success with his unique style of chinaman bowling.

During the show Knights Unplugged on Kolkata Knight Riders' official website, Kuldeep Yadav walks down memory lane talking about his early days in cricket as well as KKR's chances to win the IPL 2020 tournament.

Kuldeep Yadav recalled his early days in the game and his Test cricket debut saying, " It was an honour! I was on the bench for three matches but kept preparing myself with Anil sir (Kumble), our the then coach. He backed me a lot. He exactly knew the kind of mindset young spinners have. I remember, a day before the debut, we were having lunch together. He told me, you are playing tomorrow and I want 5 wickets from you. I was a little intimidated but I confidently said that I would definitely take. I slept early at 9PM and got up at 3AM, confused and nervous. I wanted to wake up Virat bhai who was next doors. But I was sure he would get mad at me. So, I went back to sleep and got up at 6AM. Somehow, I managed to spend one hour, ate breakfast and reached the ground. I was quite nervous but felt comfortable the moment all team members joined in. I got my cap and was feeling blank. It is a dream for all young cricketers to play Test cricket and my dream was coming true. I was pretty emotional. I remember I was fielding at deep square leg, and I was still nervous. But then I decided to just react normally like any other Ranji game."

He continued, "When I came to bowl, Steve Smith hit a boundary off a googly in my second over and I realised the difference between international and state level cricket. Following lunch, I just tried to be relaxed and give my best. I started strategizing my game and bowled a few slower ones to David Warner and then mixed it up with a flipper, feeling it might clean him up or trap him LBW. He played the cut straight to the slip. That was my first wicket. It was one of the most happiest moments of my life and I got really emotional. My confidence rose and I got (Peter) Handscomb and (Glenn) Maxwell too. Once the day got over, I spoke to Sachin sir and he told me a lot of things about how to approach the game. I was flooded with messages and calls. When I was lying on my bed at night and I started reflecting to realise how much I had to struggle to reach that point. I had tears of joy at that moment."

Speaking about KKR winning a third title at the IPL 2020 tournament, Kuldeep said, "I had a strong feeling last year that we would win. Even in 2018, we were playing great cricket and I was sure we would win the title. I remember the match we lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad (in qualifier 2). I was out of the ground because my spell was over. They were on 125 and I thought they would not go beyond 145. But Rashid Khan came into the middle and changed the game. We were just one step away from entering the final. It was a heart-breaking moment when we lost the match. If we can strike a good combination, we can certainly win it this year. After all, it's cricket, we will win sooner or later."

Also Read: IPL 2020: We are not here to have fun and 'hang out' in Dubai, says Virat Kohli

Kuldeep also threw light on the difference between chinaman and leg-spin bowling, "If you have noticed, I mostly practice against right-handed batsmen. Because for me it is easy to bowl to a left-hand batsman. When a right-handed batsman bats, my variations are mostly wrong'un, top spin, flipper or googly. If you are playing T20, slogging leg spin gets really easy. If it's a left-handed batsman, a leg-spinner mostly uses googly and not regular leg spin. I guess the variations I spoke about work wonderfully well in T20 cricket, but if you consider international or domestic cricket, leg spin is still very effective."

Kuldeep Yadav will be keen to showcase his expertise with the ball for Kolkata Knight Riders at the upcoming IPL 2020 edition which begins on September 19.

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