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India's Kuldeep Yadav, second right, celebrate the wicket of United Arab Emirates's Rahul Chopra during the Asia Cup Cricket match between United Arab Emirates and India at Dubai International Cricket stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
Kuldeep Yadav is one of the rare commodities in world cricket because of his ability to bowl wrist-spin with his left hand. He was counted as a protégé when he came into the international scene and has managed to bamboozle the batters, but somewhere down the line, he lost his mystery and batters started to pick him, and he was dropped out of the Indian side and was finding it hard to get into the franchise starting XI’s in the Indian Premier League. However, the tweaker went back to the drawing board and made adjustments to his game, making a strong comeback to the Indian side in the last few years and becoming a regular member of the Indian white-ball setup.
Kuldeep had an IPL stint with the Kolkata Knight Riders, where he worked under the tutelage of Wasim Akram, who was the bowling coach at the time. Akram recalled one of the features of Kuldeep was that he was “hungry” and even on replays, it is impossible to pick some of Kuldeep’s variations.
“Leg-spinner, googly, flipper. Even I can’t read him sitting here. Even with a replay, it’s impossible. I remember meeting Kuldeep when he was very young, when he joined Knight Riders. He and Mohammed Shami were with me all the time — breakfast, lunch, dinner, during the game. If they weren’t playing, they were sitting with me. They were hungry. Kuldeep was hungry,” Wasim Akram said on Sony Sports.
“I remember Shami once came to drop me at the airport in a car. I asked him, ‘Why are you coming with me?’ He said, ‘Wasim bhai, I want to listen to you and hear what you have to say in general. Credit to them. I’m really proud of these boys, and they’ve done incredibly well for their country.'”
Kuldeep has picked up four wickets in the game against UAE and was named the Player Of the Match. “Was working on my bowling and my fitness as well, everything is going perfectly. Tried to hit the right length and it matters a lot, reading the batters on what they are trying to do. Even today as well, reacting to what the batters would do on the next ball,” he said after India’s thumping nine wicket win.
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