"Rohit Sharma doesn't talk a lot about my bowling anymore, now he's nagging me for batting" - Kuldeep Yadav
Kuldeep Yadav said on Monday (April 22) that India captain Rohit Sharma has stopped speaking to him about bowling and instead, now "nags" him to improve his batting skills.
The Delhi Capitals (DC) bowler's comments came during the team's media event organized ahead of their Wednesday's match against the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024. He was asked about his conversations with Rohit's before the season.
The 29-year-old replied by saying:
"Before the IPL he only said, 'Take it easy, don't put too much effort' (laughs). That was it! ... He doesn't talk a lot about my bowling anymore. Whatever he wanted from my bowling, I am delivering that already. Now he's nagging me for batting!"
Kuldeep then reiterated his gratitude at how Rohit handled his national comeback from injury a couple of years ago and backed him in one of his most difficult phases, before further speaking about his recent batting inputs:
"He used to speak a lot to me at nets about my batting during the England Tests. He's been putting a lot of efforts behind it and has been very impressed by my batting too. Whatever he asked, I worked on those things and perfomed in important matches."
Kuldeep's batting improvement was on display in England series where India won 4-1. Batting at number five once and number nine twice in his last three innings, he recorded scores of 27 (91), 28 (131) and 30 (69) -- the second one coming when India were reduced to 177/7 chasing England's 353 in Ranchi.
Kuldeep Yadav reveals India's bowling tactics against England
The wily spinner didn't step-up only with the bat and also picked up 19 wickets in four matches at an average of 20.16. Further in the interaction, he gave some interesting insights into India's bowling and fielding plans against England's 'BazBallers'.
"The plan was such... like, we play well in front of the wicket so the bowlers or captains keep two fielders behind on the straight boundary," he said. "For them, we thought we needed to control the square boundaries. They didn't have any game to play straight so we put two fielders behind square of the wicket, planned to allow them the singles and bowled the odd ball wide outside the crease. That was how I got Ben Duckett out because he was struggling against that. He was not even connecting the reverse sweeps."
Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav has 10 wickets from five matches in IPL 2024 at an average of 15.40.