"He was always there for me" - Kuldeep Yadav opens up on conversation with Yuzvendra Chahal before IND vs SA 3rd T20I
Indian left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav made a stellar comeback to form in T20Is as he recorded his best figures for the Men in Blue in the format on Thursday against South Africa. He picked up five wickets for just 17 runs in 2.5 overs and ensured that the visitors won the final game to level the series 1-1.
In a recent video posted by the BCCI, stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav was seen having a conversation with Kuldeep in which he asked the latter whether having a chat with Yuzvendra Chahal helped him pick up five wickets.
Here's what Kuldeep Yadav had to say about his conversation with the veteran leg-spinner:
"Chahal bhai had a long flight so we didn't speak much. Just met him last evening where he told me not to change too much about bowling. Even when things weren't great 2-3 years ago, he was always there for me. Hopefully we will try to do well if we play together in ODIs."
Kuldeep Yadav also spoke about the planning that he went in for the third T20I and how he picked up a fifer. On this, he added:
"Wasn't thinking much. The idea was to bowl to a particular length and then I observed that the pitch is slow and the quicker ones were gripping a bit. So I was just mixing my flighted deliveries with quicker ones. I did get a few lucky wickets as the ball was keeping low. Once I got three wickets, I thought let's go for picking five wickets."
Suryakumar Yadav discusses his innings with Kuldeep Yadav
It was then Kuldeep Yadav's time to ask Suryakumar Yadav on how the latter felt after scoring a record-equalling fourth hundred in the T20I format. SKY shed light on how he went about pacing his innings to ensure he batted for as long as he could.
On this, he stated:
"Whenever I walk out to bat, I don't think about the amount of runs I have to score. I just want to go out there and enjoy my batting. I like to sprint out to the middle and get ready to face the first ball. It was good to get the Player of the Match and Player of the Series award by coming out of my comfort zone overseas. All the success reached God, God is great."
Suryakumar also equalled Rohit Sharma's record for the most T20I hundreds. On this, he further added:
"I just tried to see what I can offer to the team in those conditions. Even during the timeout, Rahul and Vikram Bhai came and told me to bat as deep as possible, so that's what I tried. It's a good thing to get level with Rohit Bhai, just grateful for everything."
It took just 57 innings for Suryakumar Yadav to smash four T20I hundreds, showing his meteoric rise in the shortest format.