Kuldeep Yadav broke into the Indian Premier League (IPL) scene with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) but the last two seasons saw the spin maestro hardly play for the Kolkata-based franchise. His downfall with KKR coincided with his exclusion from the Indian national team, and his former coach Kapil Dev Pandey has blamed former skipper Virat Kohli for his absence from the national team while also crediting current skipper Rohit Sharma.
"Rohit kept a close eye on Kuldeep, his Yo-Yo Test and rehab reports. Rohit was impressed with Kuldeep's rehab programme. Rohit should be credited for Kuldeep's comeback. He wouldn't have been here today without the support of Rohit, Pant and Ponting. Every captain has their own style of captaining and picking players. Kuldeep played a lot of cricket under Virat. Virat wants to experience on the side. He went with Ashwin and Jadeja. He preferred Axar ahead of Kuldeep because of Axar's batting capabilities. A captain has to trust his players," the coach told the Times Of India in an interview.
Kuldeep's career has now witnessed a rejuvenation this time around with the Capitals. Picked for Rs 2 crores, the chinaman bowler has impressed many with his excellent performances, with 17 wickets in nine matches to his name. The 27-year-old, who is India's only bowler to have claimed two hat-tricks, faced a tough period prior to his time with DC, and recalling a conversation with Kuldeep, his coach spoke about the advice he gave the spinner.
"Kuldeep was tense and asked me one thing two years back - 'Sir, I put in a lot of hard work, I don't miss a single net session but I am still not getting chances. What should I do? I said 'just wait, your time will come soon'. That's it. I told him to wait for his chance. In hindsight, that phase that he went through gave Kuldeep a lot of maturity and confidence. He is a fearless bowler now. He started playing domestic matches and Kanpur league games. He went back to the basics. He has now turned into a fearless and confident bowler," Pandey said.
Pandey also credited the Capitals' management for having faith in Kuldeep. He also believes that it was a blessing for Kuldeep that KKR let him go. "KKR did a very good thing by releasing Kuldeep. It worked really well in Kuldeep's favour. If Kuldeep was there for one more season, he would have been severely diminished as a cricketer. They (KKR) retained him for one year and then didn't give him chances, that was quite shocking," the coach explained.
"When he was picked by DC in the last player auction (for his base price of Rs 2 Crore), I told him not to see the price he was bought for. I just said - 'You have got a wonderful team and set up and will get enough chances to showcase your talent'. He said - 'I just want to perform in the IPL and want to make a comeback to the Indian team in all formats. He was hungry for chances," he added.
