After 32 years Kuldeep betters Gopal’s feat on Test debut
last week, the name of offie Gopal Sharma was on top among the spinners from Uttar Pradesh who made best debut in India’s Test cricket history, but things changed dramatically on Saturday when Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav bettered the record.
Playing before his home crowd at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, Gopal had three for 115 in the first innings and none for 17 in the second innings of England in the drawn tie in 1985.
This performance helped Gopal play seven Test matches in his career which ended with 10 wickets to his credit.
Contrary to this, another Kanpurite Kuldeep took four for 68 in the first innings and none for 23 in the second innings against Australia. His performance proved instrumental for India winning the home series against Steve Smith and Co for the Gavaskar-Boarder Trophy at Dharmshala.
Kuldeep’s dream debut against Australia has won him accolade from top names of the Indian cricket, including Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir and Team India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkaya Rahane.
Kuldeep, son of brick kiln owner Ram Singh Yadav, has played 27 T20 matches in his career which include both IPL matches for KKR as well as Syed Mushtaq Ali national T20 matches for Uttar Pradesh.
He has 37 wickets from these games and an economy rate of 7.10 per over which is expected to get better as he plays more matches.
Even as a junior cricketer, Kuldeep has impressed quite early. He was the first Indian to take a hattrick in the 2014 ICC U-19 World Cup against Scotland in Dubai. He grabbed the attention of cricket lovers by becoming India’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
His coach at Kanpur Kapil Pandey was also happy that his decision to ask Kuldeep bowl Chinaman bowling was correct. “Kuldeep wanted to be a fast bowler when he first joined my academy but I asked him to switch to Chinaman, a rarer variety of bowling. The change was not easy but he soon realised that bowling spin was the way forward for him,” said Pandey.
BEST DEBUT
Praveen Kumar of Meerut owns the pride of making the best debut among bowlers in Test cricket for Uttar Pradesh so far. The lanky seamer had three for 38 and three for 42 against West Indies at the Sabina Park Kingston at Jamaica in 2011 and his showing had helped India win the Test by 63 runs.
Left-arm pacer Rudra Pratap Singh had four for 89 and one for 75 in two innings against Pakistan at Faisalabad Test in a drawn game in 2006, whereas leggie Piyush Chawla had just one wicket against England in his debut Test at Mohali in 2006. He bagged one wicket for eight runs in the second innings and India won the Test by nine wickets.
Besides five bowlers, Uttar Pradesh batsmen Mohd Kaif and Suresh Raina have also played for India in Tests. Allahabad’s Kaif made 12 and 23 in two innings against South Africa at Bangalore in 1999 when India lost the game by 71 runs.
But for Suresh Raina, it was a dream debut as the left-hander struck 120 against Sri Lanka in a drawn game at Sinhalese Sports Club at Colombo in 2010. In the same match, Sachin Tendulkar scored a double century while Virendra Sehwag made 99.