Kuldeep Yadav shouldn't solely be blamed for his stagnation

Post India’s historic Test series triumph against Australia in 2019, Ravi Shastri waxed lyrical about Kuldeep Yadav – a spinner whose reputation had only burgeoned, courtesy of a five-wicket haul at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

At that juncture, the Indian head coach even hinted that Kuldeep Yadav was “already” ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the pecking order for being India’s primary overseas Test spinner.

“Already! He plays overseas Test cricket and he gets five wickets, so he becomes our primary overseas spinner. Going ahead, if we have to play one spinner, he is the one we will pick. There is a time for everyone (referring to Ashwin’s poor fitness record in 2018). But now Kuldeep is our frontline number one overseas spinner,” Ravi Shastri had opined.

Those comments came hot on the heels of Kuldeep Yadav’s most influential Test performance, and after a period where Ashwin’s fitness had been called into question. Thus, it seemed that India were ready to turn a corner and entrust Kuldeep Yadav with being their bowling spearhead, across formats.

Two years have passed since and unfortunately, not a lot of weight has been lent to the aforementioned argument. To be blunter, Kuldeep Yadav is not even remotely close to emulating the role Ravi Shastri had envisioned back in 2019.

More damningly, his bowling has fallen off a cliff, meaning that he has been cast aside from the Indian scheme of things. To add to his woes, he has been a trusted bench-warmer for the Kolkata Knight Riders – his IPL team.

Subsequently, one can’t help but delve deeper into what has transpired and how Kuldeep Yadav’s stock has fallen so drastically. And, of course, attain better clarity on the factors that have led to one of India’s most promising youngsters fizzling out.

In the past couple of years, Kuldeep Yadav has drawn plenty of flak for his speeds – something which has stuck out, considering he is a spinner. Though there is some logic to those notions, for he has been found out on sluggish surfaces, the criticism might just have gotten a touch overboard and could’ve even prompted him to shelve the traits that helped him become succesful.

Ever since his international bow, Kuldeep Yadav has represented a bowler who has relied on his craft and guile to outwit batters.

Kuldeep Yadav completed outfoxed Babar Azam at the 2019 CWC

At the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, he provided ample evidence when he outfoxed Babar Azam before castling him. A couple of years earlier, he accorded the cricket-watching public an even longer glimpse on his Test debut.

Kuldeep Yadav enjoyed an eye-catching Test debut

At Dharamshala, under Ajinkya Rahane’s stewardship (with Anil Kumble as coach), Kuldeep Yadav bamboozled the Australian batters, with the spinner’s planning and execution for Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal standing out.

Even then, Kuldeep Yadav wasn’t really operating at the speeds the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar or lately, Axar Patel are capable of. Instead, he was using his dip, drift and deception to get the better of opposition cricketers.

Now, he seems a pale shadow of the bowler that flummoxed batters for fun. Additionally, with opposition batters getting more accustomed to Kuldeep Yadav’s variations, his lack of pace has been magnified.

Kuldeep Yadav has been troubled by a shoulder injury recently

A direct correlation could perhaps be established with the niggling left shoulder injury he seems to be battling since 2019, when he missed the Ranchi Test against South Africa. More recently, he was also reported to be carrying the same injury when playing against New Zealand in 2020.

While a shoulder injury seems to have hampered his propensity to generate zip off docile surfaces, the dearth of confidence from those around him has (arguably) had a greater impact.

Natarajan replaces Kuldeep Yadav - India going without a specialist spinner. #INDvENG

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 28, 2021

To place things into context, the Indian cricket team, during Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal’s purple patch, often stressed about the pair’s importance. Yet, whenever push has come to shove, Kuldeep Yadav (in particular) has been thrown by the wayside.

Consequently, Kuldeep Yadav has had the pressure to perform in the limited opportunities he has received. A perfect example would be the 2nd Test at Chennai against England in 2021, where, despite a decent outing, Kuldeep Yadav was omitted altogether for the following games.

No better feeling than being back on the pitch. Superb win and a complete team effort. 🇮🇳💪🏻💯 pic.twitter.com/RrYSgwdPKj

— Kuldeep yadav (@imkuldeep18) February 16, 2021

In fact, Kuldeep Yadav has openly admitted to it as well – something that just casts light on the kind of treatment meted out to him.

“When you are playing non-stop, players do feel high on confidence. The more one sits out the more it gets tougher. I felt a huge pressure on me when I played the Test against England in Chennai this February. Sometimes I felt, ‘what is going on?’. It was difficult times. Sometimes, the mind says, ‘ab shayad woh Kuldeep nahi rahe’, Kuldeep Yadav had commented.

As far as his IPL franchise is concerned, though, things are, somehow, a lot grimmer.

Kuldeep Yadav has barely played for KKR since 2019

In the 2021 edition of the competition, Kuldeep Yadav played a grand total of zero matches, despite KKR playing a major chunk of their games at Chennai. To put things into further context, most teams played extra spinners on the turning track at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

While KKR did so too, they found it more prudent to rely on Harbhajan Singh (a tweaker who ran his race quite some time ago) rather than Kuldeep Yadav. Though team selections are an internal matter, the decision to leave out the latter left him “shocked” – again, something that only hastened his spiraling confidence levels.

“I was especially [shocked] when I didn’t find a place in my IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. I wondered, ‘am I that bad?’ It’s a team-management decision and it would be wrong to go and ask them. I wasn’t played in Chennai during the IPL despite knowing it’s a turner. I was a bit shocked but couldn’t do anything,” Kuldeep Yadav had said.

Thus, it is fair to say that KKR haven’t really covered themselves in any glory, with respect to Kuldeep Yadav’s handling. And, while KKR have garnered plaudits for the way they’ve taken care of young Indian pacers (read Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi), Kuldeep Yadav is, unabashedly, at the other end of that particular spectrum.

In lieu of these factors, Kuldeep Yadav’s career has stagnated and he finds himself veered at a defining crossroad. At this moment, there has been barely little to suggest that he can indeed propel himself to the dizzying heights he once showed he was capable of scaling.

To that end, it might not even be as bad to omit Kuldeep Yadav from the touring party to Sri Lanka altogether, for it would allow the spinner the time to introspect and go back to basics.

For the aforementioned to have the desired effect though, it is imperative that the Indian team management communicates to Kuldeep Yadav, saying that he remains a vital cog in their machinery.

Can Kuldeep Yadav reacpture his best form?

If the above does happen, it would enable Kuldeep Yadav to pull out all the stops to recreate the craft and the guile that had made him the envy of the cricketing fraternity. At the same time, he must also be encouraged to not concentrate on increasing his pace, for it could force him to move away from his natural tendencies.

While it might be a bit of a stretch to compare his situation to the ordeal Prithvi Shaw faced during the Test series against Australia, positive parallels could be drawn. The latter was taken away from the firing line and he has since responded with a string of sparkling performances.

Though one isn’t trying to imply that Kuldeep Yadav would definitely recapture his form in similar fashion, it could just be the tonic that could cure him of his ailments.

Rather ironically, for a cricketer who has been shunted at the drop of a hat, another exclusion could, in fact, be the decision that could turn things around (both literally and metaphorically).

Maybe then, he will morph into the bowler Ravi Shastri, Virat Kohli and the Indian team thought they had in their midst.

Yet, until then, it is essential that each of the affected parties, whether it be Kohli, the Indian team management or KKR, share the blame for Kuldeep Yadav falling off a cliff.

After all, a cricketer who was so good that he was even ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja in the pecking order, can’t become so bad overnight, can he?