IND v AUS | 1st Test: “Difficult to read spinners at night,” reckons Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav, India’s left arm spinner believes that spin will play a crucial role in the first test of the India-Australia series at Adelaide, which is a day-night affair. Kuldeep Yadav played in India’s first warm-up match against Australia last week, but he was left out for the second practice match, in which India decided […]
 
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IND v AUS | 1st Test: “Difficult to read spinners at night,” reckons Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav, India’s left arm spinner believes that spin will play a crucial role in the first test of the India-Australia series at Adelaide, which is a day-night affair. Kuldeep Yadav played in India’s first warm-up match against Australia last week, but he was left out for the second practice match, in which India decided to go ahead with an all pace attack.

“I feel it’s difficult to read spinners at night, because if a spinner uses variations it’s not always easy to spot the seam position of the ball,” Kuldeep Yadav told kkr.in. “That can be an advantage for us. I have never experienced a pink-ball match outside India. So, it will be exciting to see how it goes.”

India’s selection against Australia A does not provide any clues regarding India’s composition in the first test. It seemed more as if the Indians wanted to give everyone in the squad a chance. Spinners have performed well in the seven day-night tests held in Australia till date, accounting for 50 percent of the wickets.

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With Ravindra Jadeja recovering from a concussion and a hamstring injury, it will be unlikely to see India going in with two frontline spinners against Australia. Kuldeep Yadav last played a test match for India against Australia in 2019, and was a part of the Indian squad to win a first test series in Australia. In his only outing at Sydney, he took a five-for.

IND v AUS | 1st Test: “Difficult to read spinners at night,” reckons Kuldeep Yadav

“It’ll be unfair to say spinners haven’t dominated in Australian conditions; there have been many instances when spinners have done well down under,” Yadav said. “It completely depends on how quickly you adapt to, and read, the conditions. A lot of us, having played so much T20 cricket of late, will have to be patient when playing Test cricket. Mental toughness is very important. When switching to the longer format, you sometimes tend to try too many things too quickly. Wickets don’t come easy in Test cricket, so patience is the key.”

Selection committee backing Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav has been going through some kind of lean patch after the Indian Premier League 2019. The leg spinner formed a deadly combination with Yuzvendra Chahal, leading up to the ICC Cricket World Cup in England, last year. Since then, he has found it difficult to break into the playing 11 of the Indian team and was also on the bench for majority of the IPL season for Kolkata Knight Riders.

However, the selectors have stuck with the youngster and also included him in the squad to face Australia. In January, Yadav had stated that his poor form was mainly due to his bowling choices, which he has worked on, under the assistance of Shane Warne.

“He has shared a lot of valuable inputs about bowling over the years, but mainly he talks about mental preparation,” Yadav said. “One thing he always insists on is to always wear a smile on my face. He has told me that’s a very important virtue for a spinner. If your face shows any sense of stress, your body language goes for a toss. I’ve worked on this specifically and I consider it one of the best [pieces of] advice I’ve got.”