The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
When Kuldeep is in rhythm, it’s like a chess mehfil at the town square
EVERY TIME Kuldeep Yadav would take a wicket, his highly-obliged teammates would crowd around him and lovingly ruffle his thick brownish mop of hair. On a hard brownish true pitch where pacers and finger-spinners found it tough to get wickets, the wrist spinner from Kanpur proved the saviour for his team. On a typically overcast English morning, at a venue that had more Barmy Army flags than Tricolours, Kuldeep Yadav hammered home the fact to the world that this was no home-away-from-home for Ben Stokes and his men.
His figures of 5/72 were an exhibition of his extensive repertoire that has many stock balls plus several versions and variations. England's first innings total of 218 all out reconfirmed that India, under Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma, don't need pitch manipulation to dismiss visiting teams cheaply.
And Kuldeep's unchanged 15-over spell, during which England went from 55/0 to 179/6, was a reconfirmation of the many match-winners that have emerged in
Rohit's team. If Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Ravichandran Ashwin can't get the breakthrough, there is always the con and cunning of the man from Kanpur to fall back upon.
The most eye-catching of Kuldeep's dismissals on Day 1 was the stumping of England No.3 Ollie Pope. It showed how spin bowling was a community activity that has the involvement of all those around the bat.
It's like those amateur chess mehfils at town squares where every hanger-on feels obliged to hunker over the board and advise the players. The chatter is louder and frequent when the ball is in the hands of Kuldeep, the wrist-spinner who ignites the imagination of all his co-conspirators and becomes the sharpshooter who carries out instructions to the T.
Just an over before Pope got out, opener Zak Crawley had danced down the track to hit Ashwin for a six over the sightscreen. Lunch was just minutes away but then Bazballers, we are told, aren't dictated by the hands of the clock. During his short stay, Pope had mostly stayed in the crease. Knowing glances were exchanged by the close-in fielders.
Young wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, playing just his third Test, would soon utter words that would make viral content. The stump mic would catch his shout across the pitch to Kuldeep - “Aage badhne waala hai (He is about to step out).” Kuldeep would pull his length back and bowl the spintribe's popular antidote to those charging out of the crease - the wrong 'un. There aren't many sights in world cricket better than a batsman stranded close to the middle of the pitch and looking back at the wicketkeeper with the ball in his hands. Pope would have lost his appetite as he walked ahead of the players heading to the hut for lunch, not to return.
A rare breed
Kuldeep is a one-of-a-kind cricketer and became a cricketing rarity on a hunch of his coach. Since he wasn't tall enough to bowl fast, his early passion, Kuldeep's coach, one fine day, threw the ball to him and asked him to try spin. The coach would be surprised with what he saw - the young boy used his wrist and not fingers to spin the ball. Thus was born a left-arm wrist spinner — he wasn't orthodox, he was exotic.
Beyond the cricket field, Kuldeep's choices give a peep into his analytical mind. Youtube has many videos of him involved in detailed discussions with local football experts that last hours. A passionate fan of Barcelona's complex short passes - tikitaka style - he too is in the business of unlocking tight defences.
Angles and mindgames
Kuldeep's bowling is also about understanding angles and reading the mind of batsmen. For most of the first session, England seemed to have parked the bus and occasionally the openers - Ben Duckett and Crawley - would launch counter-attacks. That would change after Kuldeep's entry. This was a pitch for wrist-spinners. They impart more revolutions to the ball than finger-spinners do.
An Australian research shows that offie Nathan Lyon's stock ball has 2,000 revolutions, while the corresponding number for leg-spin legend Shane Warne was 2,800. The hard and bouncy Day 1 Dharamsala pitch was the kind that would make a captain look at his wrist-spinners.
However, it was Kuldeep's range that helped him fox the English. He had four deliveries in his arsenal and kept juggling them. There was the over-the-wicket tossed-up ball that drifts outside the offstump of the right-handers before breaking into the batsman appreciably. It also has a variation - the one that is flatter and is bowled just outside off. This one breaks less. Then there's the faster, flatter, fuller straight one that traps the sweepers in front of the stumps.
And the googly, the sucker punch delivered after long set-ups.
Kuldeep got Crawley for 79, denying him a century, with one that turned in sharply, and left-hander Duckett was tempted with one tossed up wide outside off. Ben Stokes was caught on the crease, out LBW failing to read the wrong 'un.
Another important dismissal was of Jonny Bairstow, who seemed to have decided to hit Kuldeep out of attack. He hit him for a six and four reaching 29, and that's when another quip from the hangers-on around the bat, Rohit, came up with atip.“Hawaa mat de (Don't give the ball air),” he would say. On demand came a flatter googly and Bairstow was caught behind.
They all once again rushed to ruffle the thick brownish mop of hair. On demand, the enforcers had delivered once again.