How Kuldeep regained his magic

There has been a realignment in the Indian spin attack just as Kuldeep Yadav has managed to realign the dynamics of his bowling to not just earn himself a second lease of life but emerge as the strike spinner for skipper Rohit Sharma.

Since the defeat to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy final in 2017, when then skipper Virat Kohli decided to dump the long-serving finger-spin duo of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja from the white-ball scheme of things, Indian spinners have been involved in a sort of musical chair's game. The coming together of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep heralded a new era with the two wrist spinners forming an irresistible force.

With Chahal and Kuldeep enjoying unprecedented success, the white-ball future of Jadeja and Ashwin appeared all but done. However, as the novelty factor disappeared and tricks were deciphered, a nearly two-year honeymoon period saw a disappointing end. Their diminishing impact and aura, facilitated the return of Jadeja and then Ashwin. 

From an all finger-spin to all wrist-spin to finally the finger-wrist combination, India's slow bowling group has come a full circle just as Kuldeep who was seemingly lost to Indian cricket. With his confidence at an all-time low and a subsequent knee injury sidelining him for months at the beginning of 2022, Kuldeep's road to redemption appeared long and tedious. He needed to reinvent himself, but more importantly a reassuring arm around his shoulder.

"Every player needs to be shown faith, given a bit of confidence, which the team management has done and it is showing on the field," chief selector Ajit Agarkar has said after the Asia Cup where Kuldeep was the highest wicket-taker for India. "In various conditions and against varied opposition, he is one of the trump cards for the team. I'm happy and excited about what he is doing. Clearly, most teams coming up against him find it a challenge, and where he is at, all of us are excited at what lies ahead."

Clearly, Kuldeep has been doing exciting things. With assuring words from the new team management, Kuldeep went about rediscovering his magic by tweaking his action a bit and adding a few new aspects to his bowling after his rehab at the National Cricket Academy. 

"Everyone told me my deliveries required pace but no one told me how to do it," Kuldeep said after India's first World Cup game against Australia in Chennai. "Once I was coming back from injury, it was physio Ashish Kaushik who advised that the load on my right leg should be less. Post rehab, I implemented that in my training and then in match situations and I felt the difference. It didn't happen overnight though. It took around six months to get the rhythm back," Kuldeep recollected.

The reward for the hard work has been commensurate with the hard yards Kuldeep has put in. He is the highest wicket-taker among Indian bowlers with 38 scalps from 20 games this year and second behind Nepal's Sandeep Namichane (43 from 21) in the world. Since his return in August 2022, there has been a stark change in his fortunes (see table). Average, economy and strike rate have also seen vast improvement post August 2022 compared his numbers from the start of his ODI career to August 2022. 

India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey attributes Kuldeep's rise in the ODl format this year to self-realisation. 

"Sometimes when you have a conversation with the bowler, you do get a self-realisation of what are the areas I need to work on," Mhambrey noted. "He's worked on certain things, made those technical changes and you could see that in his bowling. The speeds have gone up, the lengths and areas have become better and in that sense, there are a lot of big ticks for us.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Anil Kumble, under whose tenure as India's coach Kuldeep shot into prominence, gave a lucid explanation of what the spinner has done to regain his mojo.

"Even when I was the coach, Kuldeep had just come into the Indian team and we were trying to get him to bowl straighter," Kumble said. "He is now running in straighter, which means that the body is more behind the ball that he bowls and that has certainly helped the pace at which he bowls now. Naturally, he doesn't have to bowl quicker. It's not that the arm-speed has suddenly become quicker."

"What is really good and impressive is that he's always been a big turner of the ball so he is still able to give it a good rip. And because of the change of the angle of the run-up, it's given him the advantage of a body behind every ball."

Whether it's change in loading, run-up, giving more pace to the ball in the air or getting the body behind the line of the ball, Kuldeep 2.0 version has been wiser and more effective.