Say it in hushed tones, but Kuldeep Yadav could be back to his best

Kuldeep Yadav’s career has, since the very start, been topsy-turvy, and that is no exaggeration at all. Earmarked for success since breaking onto the U-19 World Cup stage, he was fast-tracked into the IPL and the Indian team, only to get side-lined when many thought he was approaching his peak.

Some of it may have been warranted (or not) but that is a debate for another day. The fact of the matter remains that Kuldeep has played a lot less than many thought he would, at 28 years of age, and having made his international debut back in March 2017.

Now, in 2023, though, it feels that everything is coming together for him again. He is featuring in ODIs often under Rohit Sharma's stewardship - at times, displacing Yuzvendra Chahal. Even in the shortest format, Hardik Pandya seems to have confidence in Kuldeep’s abilities, trusting him to come up with the goods in pressure situations.

Much of that has been down to how the left-arm spinner has been bowling. The deception that characterized his early prominence seems to have returned. Batters are no longer camping inside their crease and getting away with it. The ball is dropping and dipping devilishly, with drift also being a very prominent feature.

In fact, it would not be a stretch to say that he is perhaps bowling as well as he has ever done and is quite close to becoming the bowler many thought he would ultimately become. That too comes with a caveat, for how quickly things have turned sour for the spinner in the past – sometimes due to no real fault of his, although this time, it does feel a little different.

And the three batters that Kuldeep dismissed at the Providence Stadium in Guyana on Tuesday, plus his superb display in the ODI series and the first T20I, only strengthen that argument.

---

Kuldeep Yadav has been superb in the T20I series against WI

Johnson Charles does not really fancy facing spin, let alone left-arm wrist spin. One of the shots that helps him dominate, though, is the slog sweep.

In the opening T20I, Kuldeep had dismissed him while playing that stroke. With the West Indies in a good enough position and looking to accelerate in Guyana, Kuldeep realized quickly that that was exactly what Charles would try to do.

The ball that ultimately got the better of Charles was looped up a tad more and asked the batter to fetch it. He was unable to do so and was rapped on the pads. The umpire was unmoved initially but India used the DRS to good effect to hand Kuldeep his first scalp of the morning.

In his next over, he was taken for 13 runs, with 10 of those coming via a Nicholas Pooran six and four (a reverse swat over conventional extra cover). At that point, it would have been easy for the left-arm wrist-spinner to sulk and wonder what Pooran would throw at him, especially considering the form the latter has been in.

To Pandya’s credit, he kept his spinner on, and Kuldeep repaid his faith. Knowing that Pooran will likely want to attack him, buoyed by the fact that he launched him over his head after stepping out just balls ago, Kuldeep delivered it much flatter and shorter. Pooran pre-meditated his charge, found himself in no man’s land, and swiped wildly, only to miss the ball and get stumped by a mile.

In that same over, Brandon King, who had been hanging back at every opportunity to either play the cut or the pull, ended up going back to a ball that was not very short. He tried to manufacture a stroke, possibly through the off side but ended up shanking it straight back to Kuldeep.

An hour and a bit after that double-wicket over, Suryakumar Yadav turned on the style, and Tilak Varma starred with an unbeaten 49, meaning that there is every chance their performances will be talked about until these teams reconvene in Florida on Saturday.

But it would take the most skeptical of pessimists to write off what Kuldeep did, considering how much destruction Pooran has already caused, and the mayhem Charles and King can indulge in if they line up a spinner.

The best part, however, is that this is no longer just an anomaly. For the past few months (or perhaps since Kuldeep started playing for the Delhi Capitals in the IPL), he has looked rejuvenated.

This, thus, is not the start of an upward trajectory. Rather, the crescendo of his redemption arc, capped off by him becoming the fastest Indian men's bowler to pick up 50 T20I wickets.

Of course, this is not to say that he has reached his saturation as an international bowler. Anything but that, actually. Because of how high his ceiling is, there will always be an extra step he can take to become an even greater match-winner.

That said, there can be no denying that he is, at this particular moment, bowling as beautifully as he has ever done, even if you were to mutter it in hushed tones to not jinx a very watchable bowler.

And if anyone feels that is still up for debate, well, a quick glance at how he outwitted three dangerous West Indian batters in Guyana should do the trick.