Kuldeep on learning the game from the sidelines, saying that ‘You learn a lot about the game when you don’t play’.
Kuldeep: ‘You learn a lot when you don’t play’.
Kuldeep Yadav believes that rhythm is crucial. It helps him drift, creates a loop to trick batters in the air, and provides him the confidence he needs to improve the sequence of his deliveries.
He claims that rhythm only develops with middle-field time, which he lacked over a whole Test series in England as the squad chose to focus on batting depth.
Rather than sitting around moping, Kuldeep created his own training routine, examined his performance, and selected certain benchmarks for when his time will come.
“In England, obviously, looking at the conditions and the combination of the team, I didn’t get a place in the XI,” he said ahead of India’s final group match against Oman in Abu Dhabi in the Asia Cup. “But it was a very good time for me to work on myself, to improve my fitness and to give more volume to bowling, because it is very important.”
“As a player, you learn a lot when you don’t play,” he said. “When the team reacts to certain situations, you can judge from the outside. You have a lot of ideas when you are in this situation, as to how to react and how you can bowl. I got a lot of ideas from there.
“The communication [when he didn’t play] from Gauti [head coach Gautam Gambhir] was very clear. He was very straightforward. When you don’t play, it is very easy to blame someone. To take it constructively and improve is tough. There are two ways and players choose according to themselves.
“But it is very important that you keep working hard. The game is such that you have good and bad days. If you are not playing, you have time to improve on your own and become a better player when you get the chance.”