Can Kuldeep come back stronger?
The freak knee injury couldn’t have come at a worse time
It’s not easy to be in the shoes of Kuldeep Yadav these days. The left-arm wrist spinner, whose career had been down in the dumps since the last two seasons, now has the odds further stacked against him as he had to undergo a knee surgery in Mumbai on Wednesday.
“Surgery was a success and the road to recovery has just begun. Thank you so much to everyone for your amazing support. The focus is now to complete my rehab well and be back on the pitch doing what I love as soon as possible,’’ tweeted the chinaman bowler — who had to return from his duties with Kolkata Knight Riders in the second phase of IPL 2021 in the UAE after sustaining a freak injury during practice in Abu Dhabi.
A knee injury is often the domain of pace bowlers for the battering their landing foot takes — but Kuldeep’s is a freak case as he reportedly twisted his knee during fielding drills. A long period of rehabilitation is on the cards and there is every likelihood that the 26-year-old may miss a major part of the domestic season — which was so necessary for him
A long period of rehabilitation is on the cards and there is every likelihood that Yadav may miss a major part of the domestic season.
to regain his own confidence levels and win back his rightful place in the Indian team.
Life has been tough on this easy-going character for the last two years — and the injury is perhaps symbolic of it coming a full circle. A part of the ‘Kul-Cha’ pair (Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal), who were key weapons in India’s white ball scheme of things since 2017, things suddenly started to go wrong for him since 2019 season of IPL. The mystery element in Yadav’s bowling went missing as the rival batsmen started to pick him more easily — gradually resulting him in losing his place in the national team.
The success of Varun Chakravarthy, yet another mystery spinner with Sunil Narine, in the IPL 2020 in the UAE meant Yadav continued to languish on the sidelines for KKR.