Improved Kuldeep Yadav the man to take Indian spin forward

It’s tempting to imagine just how many Test wickets Kuldeep Yadav might have now if he possessed another passport. Or, if he had been born in another era. As it is, it seems almost staggering that he has just 12 Test caps since making his debut at this very venue almost seven years ago against Australia. Had he been some flash in the pan, those numbers would have been understandable. But after his heroics on the opening day of the final Test against England in Dharamsala, Kuldeep has 51 wickets at a stellar average of 21.09. The strike-rate (36.8) is so exceptional that you might suspect a typo. 

There’s a certain irony in his picking up a five-wicket haul against England. Several generations ago, Johnny Wardle, whose autobiography published in 1957 was titled Happy Go Johnny, took 102 wickets in 28 Tests at 20.39. But those wickets were spread across more than nine years, with Jim Laker and Tony Lock the first slow-bowling picks in that era. 

Ravi Shastri, India’s coach at the time, anointed Kuldeep the future of Indian spin, especially away from home, when he took a five-for at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January 2019. Thanks in no small measure to the Covid-19 pandemic, he would have to wait more than two years for his next match in India whites. Then, another 22 months would pass before the next cap. In five years after being labelled tomorrow’s man, Kuldeep played two Tests. 

The four matches in this series — Axar Patel was preferred to him in Hyderabad — represent Kuldeep’s longest streak as a Test player. And while 17 wickets in seven innings is hardly earth-shattering, his ability to make vital breakthroughs has been a major point of difference in this series. He has dismissed Ben Stokes, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett thrice apiece, with England’s captain averaging a miserable 6.33 against him. To say that Stokes had no clue about the googly that thudded into his pad as he was caught on the crease would be stating the obvious. 

In the latter part of his career, Wardle increasingly experimented with ‘Chinaman’ bowling, as left-arm wrist-spin was known then. But until Paul Adams came along with his frog-in-a-blender action for South Africa in the mid-1990s, no left-arm wrist-spinner had taken more than 100 wickets bowling just that. Sir Garfield Sobers was known for slipping in a few overs from time to time, but his 235 wickets also included those that fell victim to waspish medium pace. 

Years spent as understudy to R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja taught Kuldeep the necessity to keep improving. There was a period after the 2019 World Cup when he lost the lovely loop and fizz off the pitch. But after going back to the drawing board with the coach who moulded him, Kuldeep has returned to the Test fray a far more complete bowler.

You could point to the stroke Ollie Pope played on the stroke of lunch and say it was daft. But the pressure that prompted the mistake had been relentless, and an attempt at a release shot was always likely. No dismissal, however, illustrated his mastery better than the ball that castled Crawley. Kuldeep had been pushing it through to ensure that the tall and rangy Crawley didn’t take too big a stride or saunter down the pitch. But the ball that got him was tossed up above the eyeline and it turned a staggering 10.9 degrees through the bat-pad gap to smash into leg stump. If Crawley looked aggrieved walking off, who could blame him? 

Kuldeep tossed the ball to Ashwin after he had dismissed Jimmy Anderson to wrap up the innings. The senior man, however, would have none of it. He knew how instrumental Kuldeep’s marathon spell either side of lunch had been in breaking England’s back. And he coaxed and cajoled Kuldeep into taking the ball and leading the team off the field. 

Ashwin turns 38 in September, while Ravindra Jadeja is 35. Indian cricket can be forgiven some heartburn about its spin future. But on a pitch that was no snake pit or Bunsen burner, Kuldeep showed that he’ll be a worthy successor. It would be a huge surprise if he isn’t  a pivotal player in Australia this winter.