Former Team India selector Sunil Joshi has opened up about Kuldeep Yadav's resurgence following a few lean years with the ball. The former Indian spinner revealed that no one came to the left-arm wrist spinner's rescue during his axing and that he took it upon himself to improve his bowling.
The Kanpur-born cricketer underwent the most toughest period of his career in 2021 as he couldn't find a spot in Kolkata Knight Riders' playing XI throughout IPL 2021. After a strong few initial years with the ball, the 28-year-old struggled to consistently find a spot in the national team, especially after the ODI series against England in 2021 when Ben Stokes took him to the cleaners.
Nevertheless, with 22 scalps in 11 games, Kuldeep is the highest wicket-taker for India in ODIs this year.
Sunil Joshi details on how he helped improve Kuldeep Yadav's bowling:
Meanwhile, Joshi revealed that he reformed Kuldeep's technique, including the delivery stride and introduced more revolutions into the ball.
"I was part of the selection committee when Kuldeep Yadav got dropped. Who came to the rescue? None of the coaching staff, I was the one who got his delivery stride shorter, front arm better, arm speed better, got him to rip more revolutions on the ball," the 53-year-old told the Indian Express.
Joshi disclosed to former head Ravi Shastri that he hadn't done anything special as it contained things that a bowling coach should have already done.
"Suddenly, everybody is talking about Kuldeep Yadav. Ravi Shastri asked Sunil, what have you done with Kuldeep? I said, 'Ravi bhai I have not done anything special. These are the simple things that a bowling coach should be doing'. If you look at Kuldeep 2.0, his front arm is nice toward the target, his bowling arm is towards the target, he is running towards the target. Shorter stride, there is a free follow through, he has got quicker through the air. You look at the way he is bowling now."
Kuldeep also bowled a miserly spell in the first T20I against the West Indies on Thursday, taking figures of 4-0-20-1.
