"I was a bit nervous in the first two overs" - Kuldeep Yadav

Indian spin bowler Kuldeep Yadav opened up about nervousness against Bangladesh on Thursday, December 15, in the ongoing first Test at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.

On Day 2, India tattered Bangladesh's batting order and reduced them to 133/8 at the end of the gameplay. Kuldeep Yadav spun the web around the hosts' middle order after Mohammed Siraj picked up the wickets of their top-order batters.

Playing in his first Test match since February 2021, the left-arm wrist spinner claimed four wickets. He got the wickets of Shakib Al Hasan, Nurul Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Taijul Islam in his 4/33 from 10 overs.

Speaking to the official broadcaster of the game later in the day, Kuldeep admitted how nervous he felt while bowling at the start of his spell. The 28-year-old said:

"Ofcourse, I was a bit nervous in the first two overs, was a bit lucky to get the first wicket of the first over and brought the momentum back to our side. After a couple of overs, I settled in, tried to mix the pace and variation, tried to bowl from over the wicket and around the wicket, getting proper turn and was loving it in the middle."

On the eve of India's five-match T20I series against South Africa in June, Kuldeep suffered a hand injury while batting in the nets. He completed his rehabilitation process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

While mentioning how he worked on his bowling after the injury, Kuldeep said:

"Not much with the action, been a year, I started off my journey after the injury, tried to be quicker with the air, tried to get the rhythm on my side, the pace if helping me a lot, not compromising the spin, just working on my rhythm."

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"I thought there was no turn on offer for the spinners" - Kuldeep Yadav

Earlier in the morning, Kuldeep recorded his highest Test score (40) in a determined 92-run stand with Ravichandran Ashwin (58) for the eighth wicket.

He played some interesting shots against his counterparts, Taijul and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, displaying those sweeps, reverse sweeps and slog-sweeps.

Revealing his understanding of the pitch and the mindset to take on the Bangladesh spinners, he explained:

"When I was batting I thought there was no turn on offer for the spinners, thought it will be good for batting against the spinners, of course being a wrist spinner, bowling in these type of surface with the kookaburra ball, definitely gets the turn and bounce."

The spinner will have the opportunity to bag his third Test five-wicket haul when India take the field on the morning of Day 3. He picked 5/57 against the West Indies (Rajkot in October 2018) and 5/99 against Australia (Sydney in January 2019).