Kuldeep turns up the heat on Sri Lanka

India’s Kuldeep Yadav against Sri Lanka in Colombo yesterday. Pic/AFP

The resurgence of Kuldeep Yadav has come at the right time for Team India as currently, they are aiming to win the Asia Cup for a record eighth time and then looking to add to their two ICC Cricket World Cup titles. With his superlative bowling effort against Pakistan on Tuesday, he has paid back the immense faith the Indian team management has reposed in him after he had lost form and fitness a year ago.

A rare breed

Yadav is a rare breed of left-arm unorthodox bowler, yet he was almost lost due to myopic vision of the Indian team management and then to a knee injury that required surgery. He faced a lot of trials and tribulations, but with persistence and hard work, he has made up a lot of ground. Now he is a premier spinner of Team India, so much so that much of the team's fortunes in the World Cup rest on his shoulders in familiar home conditions where spinners are likely to hold sway.

Rarely has an Indian spinner been as devastating against Pakistan in an ODI as Kuldeep was on Tuesday. With his lovely drift, dip and turn he flummoxed the batters to grab five wickets as India recorded their biggest victory in ODIs against archrivals. He became only the third Indian spinner after Arshad Ayub (5/21 in 1988) and Sachin Tendulkar (5/50 in 2005) to claim a five-for against Pakistan in ODIs.

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Frustrating knee recovery

Kuldeep was overjoyed by his performance against arch-rivals and said that it would be a lifelong memory for him. But, he said, he had to overcome a "frustrating" period of recovery following a knee surgery.

"Post-surgery it was very frustrating for me. I was out for five months," Kuldeep said at the post-match media interaction on Monday night.

"To reach where I am today has not happened overnight. It has taken me a long time to get it right. When things were not going well for me there were a lot of suggestions from various quarters. But one thing I was sure about was my natural ability. I never wanted to lose the original zip, dip and drift," Kuldeep said about the dilemma he faced after the surgery.

"I have been playing regularly for the past one and half years after my knee surgery. My run-up is a bit straight now. There is more aggression in my bowling, the approach to the crease is good, and earlier my bowling shoulder used to fall a lot. It's under control now and it is now facing more towards the batsman," Kuldeep added.