DHARAMSALA : Growing up in Kanpur, Kuldeep Yadav idolised Wasim Akram, wanting to be a tearaway pacer. But in an environment where fitness was not top-priority, he joined the coaching camp only to reduce weight.
For four months, he tried fast bowling — until one day academy coach Kapil Pandey stopped him — after which he started bowling wrist spin. Until his coach told him what he was bowling was called “chinaman”, he didn’t know it existed, and there began a journey that led to his India debut at Dharamsala.
Any other day, Steve Smith would have grabbed headlines, as he became the first Australian to score three centuries in a Test series in India. His 20th century was also his seventh against India in eight Tests, and if not for his 111, it is hard to imagine where Australia would be, especially after choosing to bat on a wicket that had something for everyone.
But Kuldeep made sure it was his day, his 4/68 bringing India back into the match, and having bowled the visitors out for 300 on Day 1, there's plenty of time to bat the visitors out of the match. When David Warner and Smith feasted on the Indian attack in the morning session, scoring above four runs per over, it appeared the hosts would be on-field for long.
At 131/1, Australia had not only dominated the session, but appeared to have dealt a psychological blow to the hosts, who were missing skipper Virat Kohli.
However, post-lunch, a different India turned up. Stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane began with Kuldeep at one end, and the 22-year-old unleashed his variations, which the Australians found hard to pick. Though he had been part of the side since the Bangladesh series, Kuldeep’s contribution until Dharamsala was mostly to bowl in the nets.
At nets, he quietly went about his word, at times having to wait, as in Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav, there were three spinners ahead of him. Even Pandey was getting frustrated that his ward was not getting a chance, but Kuldeep knew his moment would come, and it did on Saturday.
He first outwitted Warner with a flipper — taught by Shane Warne before the series — and the resultant edge was sharply taken by Rahane. “Did you see the first wicket? That wasn’t a chinaman, but a flipper that I picked up from Shane. Learning from him and then getting out his countryman is great,” Kuldeep said.
For a bowler who has many variations, he prefers to use the stock delivery against settled batsmen, while unleashing his arsenal on new ones. Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell would find that out.
With all pre-match eyes on Kohli, Australia wouldn't have thought of Kuldeep, and for a side that struggled against Lakshan Sandakan not too long ago in Sri Lanka, India probably used him as their trump card. “I didn’t have any difficulty against Smith as he wasn’t playing any shots against me. Maybe he didn’t want to take a chance.
Or he was being cautious as wickets were falling at the other end. But I was never nervous against him. I've been told that spinners will take wickets even if they gets hit,” he said.
And that theory worked wonders for India.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com