Going through a tough phase in his career, wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav revealed how his agony reached its peak during the recently suspended Indian Premier League where he warmed the benches for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Kuldeep played not a single of KKR’s seven matches in the IPL 2021 before the tournament was called off prematurely due to COVID-19 cases inside different team’s bubbles.
Already feeling the heat from his prolonged absence at the international stage, Kuldeep’s pain and frustration only piled on as he saw other KKR spinners get the nod ahead of him. Even at Chepauk, the most spin-friendly venue in the IPL.
“I was especially (disappointed) when I didn’t find a place in my IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. I wondered, ‘am I that bad?’ It’s a team-management decision and it would be wrong to go and ask them. I wasn’t played in Chennai during the IPL despite knowing it’s a turner. I was a bit shocked but couldn’t do anything,”
Kuldeep told the Indian Express.
Being left out of his IPL team, Kuldeep’s confidence only took a further dent as he went through game after game on the sidelines and wondered when is he next going to play? Self-doubts started to creep into Kuldeep’s system this summer.
“I did, sometimes I felt, ‘what is going on?’. It was difficult times. Sometimes, the mind says, ‘ab shayad woh Kuldeep nahi rahe.’ There were days when you feel serving drinks and being on the bench is for the best and then but there are days you don’t want to be in that place.”
he said.
KKR preferred Varun Chakravarthy, Shakib Al Hasan and Sunil Narine ahead of Kuldeep through their seven matches of IPL 2021, of which they won only 2 and lost 5. The two-time champions were languishing at the seventh position before the BCCI and IPL governing announced the postponement.
Despite his talent and promise, Kuldeep currently finds himself uncertain of his future at the highest level of the game. He was last week removed from India’s Test squad after mostly warming the benches throughout the last two years. The 26-year-old is also not anymore a first-choice pick in India’s limited-overs playing XI.
When Kuldeep took the game by a storm and ran through sides from an end in a very successful period during the 2018-19 season, few would have imagined that his career would be in such a dire state in two years’ time.
While many experts believe that Kuldeep has been found out as a bowler and needs to upskill himself to regain his wicket-taking ways, he personally feels being in and out of the side has led to his downfall.
“When you are playing non-stop, players do feel high on confidence. The more one sits out the more it gets tougher. I felt a huge pressure on me when I played the Test against England in Chennai this February. Due to Covid, there was nothing happening, so things got really tougher even more last year.”
Kuldeep also feels he misses the towering presence of MS Dhoni behind the stumps since the great Indian cricketer’s retirement last year. Kuldeep said the guidance Dhoni provided as a wicketkeeper was of immense value.
“Sometimes I miss that guidance because he (Mahi) has great experience,” he said. “He used to guide us behind the wicket, kept screaming! We miss his experience. Rishabh is there now, the more he plays, the more input he will give in the future. I always felt every bowler needs a partner who can respond from the other end.”
