India’s and Delhi Capitals chinaman sensation Kuldeep Yadav speaks about his time at Kolkata Knight Riders. Kuldeep Yadav who currently plays for Delhi Capitals in the IPL said that he regrets his time at Kolkata Knight Riders as he feels he could have done things much differently for the franchise as a bowler.
Kuldeep Yadav burst onto the scene when he made his debut for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012. He became a bowler to watch out for because of his sheer control in his left arm wrist spin action. He dominated the batsmen in his initial days, but later when batsmen started to read and pick him well he started struggling and gave a way lots of runs.
Kolkata Knight Riders backed him for a bit but then the franchise decided to bench him for the entire 2021 season which led to Kuldeep Yadav being dropped from the Indian team as well. He also suffered a major injury during that time and found it difficult to come back into the Indian Team setup.
Kuldeep Yadav feels bad about his performances
Nowadays Kuldeep Yadav is not only an ace for Delhi Capitals but also a leading candidate for team India as a bowler in white ball cricket. About his time at KKR he said :
“I feel very bad about it,” Kuldeep told a select group of journalists in an event organized by the DC management. Now, when I see myself, I wish I could’ve done things that I can do now at that time. It still hurts me a lot. I think about how if I had worked on these things earlier, I would have been able to dominate the game more,” said Kuldeep Yadav.
“But that didn’t happen because experience is such a thing that you only get after playing and not without doing anything. You only learn after facing failures in life,” he stated.
“Now, I am very confident. I have a lot of belief in my skills. But at the same time, I am very respectful for the opponent and understand how they play. Perhaps I didn’t used to to do that then because I had that much belief in my skills. Now I focus on my strengths and think about where to bowl to cause difficulties for the batter,” he added.
He was also asked about Dinesh Karthik, his previous captain at Kolkata Knight Riders about his comments on having tough conversations with Kuldeep during his days at KKR because his performances were way below par during that time.
The spinster replied saying that he did not remember the conversations he had with then captain Dinesh Karthik but he stated that Karthik had to choose one between him and Varun Chakaravati and he chose Varun as he was in better form during the time.
Kuldeep Yadav Speaking about captaincy differences
Kuldeep Yadav when asked the captaincy differences between Karthik, Dhoni and Pant he stated :
“I just feel that DK bhai plays spin so well that he needs to understand how to manage them (smiles). It was almost like he was so good against spin so he used to think opposition batters were also good!”
He further added by saying that he was immature at his time at KKR and he needed guidance from behind the stumps, but now he feels he is experienced enough to dictate his own terms on the ground.
Kuldeep Yadav praising Abhishek Sharma for his batting
Kuldeep Yadav has been in brilliant form this IPL and has picked up 10 wickets so far despite of missing a few matches due to injury. In his recent outing vs SRH he claimed figures of 4/55 which DC restrict SRH under 300 in a high scoring match.
The chinaman spoke about his plans to stick to his strengths in the high scoring match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was very impressed with batting of Abhishek Sharma saying :
“Abhishek batted really well. The balls he hit for sixes, that… I have played a lot of T20s and those balls are really difficult to hit so credit to him,”
Kuldeep Yadav’s form will be critical for Delhi Capitals going in the season ahead as they face Gujarat Titans on 24th April 2024 on their home ground.