Anyone who follows Kuldeep Yadav knows he is a football fan. In fact, an ardent fan who hardly misses a major football game. But that he was a fan of Mohun Bagan wasn’t known to me ahead of this interview. It was indeed a revelation as a Mohun Bagan fan myself.
“Yes and I have gone and watched a number of Mohun Bagan games as well,” Kuldeep told me. “I did not tell anyone that I was coming, for then you get all the attention as a cricketer. I just wanted to go and enjoy as a football fan and that’s what I did. The fan following the club has is incredible to see. That’s what I noticed as the very first thing. It is an institution with a very rich history and has one of the most passionate fan followings you can see in football.”
So how important is football to him, I asked. “Football has taught me a lot, especially to keep my mind free and relax with all the pressure from playing cricket for India,” he said. “I am not just a fan of football, I even learnt about its tactics and stuff during Covid, and I also keep implementing some of those learnings into my cricket as well.
“People keep telling me to focus on cricket, but I like the relaxation football provides my mind with, or else I would end up overthinking. I follow every football tournament and have gained a lot of knowledge about the game. I enjoy watching football and feel like I can manage a football team after my cricketing career ends. It sounds tough, but I feel I have the capability to understand football and it is my priority after cricket. That’s why I went and watched Mohun Bagan play during my KKR days, and realised how big a club it is in Asia, and how much football we have in our country.”
Also Read: IND vs ENG: Bharat Arun Advocates Kuldeep Yadav’s Inclusion in the Playing XI
With a lot on his plate, we had agreed to keep the interview to around 20-25 minutes. But then, it stretched to 40 and more, and as the interviewer, I reminded him that we had exceeded our brief. He wasn’t bothered. “When it is about football, let’s keep talking,” he said. “I hardly get a chance to talk about my passion for football and this is great for me as well.”
You could sense that he was enjoying it. Loving it that he was actually speaking to someone who is a Mohun Bagan nut. I have grown up watching football, and fondly remember the days when I used to stand in the crowd at the ramparts of the Mohun Bagan ground watching the team play. It was a very different kind of passion, and ticket prices then ranged from 60 paise to 2 rupees. When I mentioned this to Kuldeep off line, he was stunned. “These are great stories,” he said with a smile. “Ek din khali football pe baat karte hain. And us din na aap na mein koi time bandh mat dena [One day, we will talk only football. And that day, neither you nor I will set a time limit].”
For now, however, it is not football, but the red ball that he will have to do wonders with. If he finds his rhythm and has a telling impact, India could well be in the game in England.