Kuldeep Yadav - India's big spin bowling hope

Kuldeep Yadav

The U19 Cricket World Cup is in full swing now and all eyes are on the young Indian team, since they are the defending champions and the hopes of the young cricket lovers from all across the nation are pinned on them. Many new players with their unique skill and variations are taking part and one amongst them is Kuldeep Yadav.

He became the first Indian bowler to claim a hat-trick in the U-19 World Cup when he took down three Scotsmen and then went on to pick up another wicket thus helping his team to sail through to the quarter finals.

Young Kuldeep, is a bowler with his own unique style. He is a chinaman bowler or a left hand unorthodox bowler. Now what is a chinaman bowler you may ask and also wonder if Kuldeep has some connections with China. But no, it’s his style of bowling wherein he uses his left arm to spin the ball in such a way that it moves from off to leg side i.e it mimics the movement of an orthodox right hand spin bowler. Here, it is to do more with the wrist action and not so much with the fingers.

Kuldeep, 19, hails from Uttar Pradesh and is said to have by chance bowled the left hand unorthodox spin at the nets one day which his coach noticed and persuaded him to make it his signature style. But he was not interested in being a chinaman bowler and in fact wanted to be a fast bowler since he loved Brett Lee’s style.

He however practiced the art for several years when he played in the U15, U17 teams and got better and better at it. His meeting with Shane Warne at a camp in Bangalore furthered his interest in the style where the latter is said to have appreciated his skills and also gave him some spin lessons that he could use to better his basics.

Kuldeep is only the second such Indian bowler to be bowling in this unique style but the most well known bowler in the world is West Indies’ Garfield Sobers.

Kuldeep takes pride in his variations and says that he uses it to his advantage in fooling the batsmen. He also says that he reads the batsman’s body language to his first few deliveries and then bowls a variation to trick him. He remembers a practice session from when he was picked up by Mumbai Indians in the fifth edition of the IPL which were held in the year 2012 and he had managed to take out Cheteshwar Pujara and Sachin Tendulkar in consecutive overs. And although he did not get to play at the event that year, his amazing skill had taken Shaun Pollock and Tendulkar by surprise.

Well, here’s to all the new and sensational talent and wishing Kuldeep all the best for his future!