For Kuldeep Yadav, rhythm is crucial. It helps him drift, creates a loop to trick batters in the air, and gives him the confidence he needs to improve the sequence of his deliveries.
He claims that rhythm only develops with middle-field time, which he lacked during a whole Test series in England as the team chose to focus on batting depth.
“In England, obviously, looking at the conditions and the combination of the team, I didn’t get a place in the XI,” he said ahead of India’s final group match against Oman in Abu Dhabi in the Asia Cup. “But it was a very good time for me to work on myself, to improve my fitness and to give more volume to bowling, because it is very important.”
Rather than sitting around moping, Kuldeep created his own training routine, examined his performance, and selected specific benchmarks for when his time would come.
“As a player, you learn a lot when you don’t play,” he said. “When the team reacts to certain situations, you can judge from the outside. You have a lot of ideas when you are in this situation, as to how to react and how you can bowl. I got a lot of ideas from there.
“The communication [when he didn’t play] from Gauti [head coach Gautam Gambhir] was very clear. He was very straightforward. When you don’t play, it is very easy to blame someone. To take it constructively and improve is tough. There are two ways and players choose according to themselves.
“But it is very important that you keep working hard. The game is such that you have good and bad days. If you are not playing, you have time to improve on your own and become a better player when you get the chance.”
Soon after, in August, Kuldeep was given the chance to play in the Duleep Trophy. Kuldeep’s name won’t have any wickets next to it on the scorecard, but those thirty-two overs meant so much more to him.
“It was very important for me to bowl there,” he said. “Bowling in nets and bowling in a match are very different. Obviously, you want to play after a long time. You want to perform well. But I didn’t have that much in my mind. I focused on my strength and tried to bowl in good areas.”
At the Asia Cup, where he has taken seven wickets in two games against Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, he feels that sense of rhythm has fully returned.
“Actually, my rhythm is set now,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with that. I think it is important to use small angles for bowlers. As a wristspinner, I always think about my release point, my finish, whether the body is transferring [weight forward] or not.
“When you don’t play, these things run in your mind. But obviously, with the help of video analysis, you get an idea of how you are bowling. I think my rhythm is good now. In the beginning, when I changed [in 2022, he worked on a straighter run-up and went through the crease faster], it took time. But now I am used to it.”
Although Kuldeep’s rhythm has given him new energy on the field, he also makes a conscious effort to maintain equilibrium off it because he feels that it gives him a sense of release, particularly when he is not playing. Football has provided that balance.
“If you follow other sports, you get to know how it feels when a team is performing really well,” he said. “You see the bench strength of their team. They have some unbeatable bench strength and when you focus on them, they are not getting enough time -15 minutes, 20 minutes – but they are so good, they can start in any game.
“You see other teams, especially the big ones, and how they play against smaller teams – the communication, the decision-making, how quickly it all happens. You hardly have enough time to react.
“Obviously, I play cricket on the field, that’s my job. After that, I enjoy football. There are so many games, you just watch and enjoy. In any sport, you admire how they play, especially in team games. The communication, the connection between players, how they lift each other – that’s the most important thing.”
