"Zak Crawley was the best player of spin in the England team"- Kuldeep Yadav after India vs England Test series
Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav accepted that he found it a bit challenging to bowl to England opener Zak Crawley during the recently concluded Test series between the two teams.
Kuldeep shed light on how Crawley played conventional shots and ensured none of his strokes were high-risk. The left-arm wrist-spinner also claimed that he had to be at his very best to dismiss Crawley twice.
Speaking to The Indian Express, here's what Kuldeep Yadav had to say about Zak Crawley:
"In my opinion, Zak Crawley was the best player of spin in the England team. He hardly played any sweeps or reverse-sweeps, he was playing proper cricketing shots so it was challenging to get him out. Twice I got him out, in Ranchi and Dharamsala, and those were my best balls."
Kuldeep Yadav also shed light on how he plans against each batter by giving the example of Jonny Bairstow in the Dharamsala Test. Bairstow seemed to be in the mood when he smashed Ravichandran Ashwin for a couple of massive sixes.
The left-arm wrist-spinner was then brought into the attack and he set Bairstow up with multiple googlies. Just when it frustrated Bairstow as he couldn't get any delivery into his hitting arc, Kuldeep sucked him into playing a cover drive away from his body and the batter could only edge it behind to Dhruv Jurel.
Kuldeep Yadav on Joe Root's approach
Star England batter Joe Root found some success in the final two Tests of the series as he smashed a brilliant 122* in Ranchi and also made a valiant 84 in Dharamsala. Kuldeep Yadav felt that Root was difficult to be dismissed when he chose not to be ultra-aggressive
On this, Kuldeep stated:
"The way Joe Root batted in the last two games, that's his style. But as an opposition player you want a player like Joe Root to play in an attacking fashion so that you have a better chance to get him out because he can play a long innings."
Kuldeep Yadav claimed that the idea of the Bazball brand of cricket from England was to put pressure on India through field placements while bowling and with aggressive shots while batting. The hosts were put under pressure on several occasions, but came out with flying colours, winning the series 4-1.