'Last year and a half has been amazing': Kuldeep Yadav bags Player of the Series award at Asia Cup

Kuldeep Yadav has had a terrible time with injuries over the last couple of years. First was a knee injury he picked up during the Indian Premier League in 2021 which needed surgery. Then came a hairline fracture on his wrist last year which forced him out of the T20s against South Africa and tours of England, Ireland. The left-arm spinner has somehow managed to remain resolute through it all and been India’s mainstay spin bowling option. At the recently concluded Asia Cup, he took nine wickets to bag the Player of the Series award. He started by taking five wickets against Pakistan and then four versus Sri Lanka while going at just 3.61 runs an over. “The last year and a half has been amazing, I’m enjoying my bowling. I have been working on my rhythm and being more aggressive through the crease,” Kuldeep said to the broadcasters while claiming his cheque. Kuldeep went on to add: “Credit goes to Rohit (Sharma) bhai. He encouraged me to work on my speed.” When asked about the difference between bowling in T20s and ODIs, he said: “In T20 format, I just focus on the length and not on the wickets, but in ODIs you can vary your length and try a lot more different things. In T20s the length matters a lot. It’s about not thinking about wickets, just lengths. Been working on my speed and angles with my coach after my injury. I’ve been more aggressive and it’s coming very nicely.” My role is to bat in middle order: Kishan Ishan Kishan, who has had a good tournament as a middle order batter, was happy to open in the final but remains clear about his role. “I always love to open, the total wasn’t much, so it was a big yes (when asked to open) from my side. Can’t do much when you have only 50 runs on the board. But thanks to the skipper,” said Kishan after the match. “We know our roles, we know how to prepare for the World Cup. We are playing against Australia, and I will be batting in the middle-order. We were prepared for any challenge, we spoke about it in the team meetings.” Few boxes ticked, says relieved KL Rahul When KL Rahul arrived in Colombo, he hadn’t played competitive cricket for over four months and at the end of it, he has a hundred against Pakistan and 40-odd on a slow track against Sri Lanka to show for his efforts. Not to forget the catches taken. “I was a bit worried a couple of weeks ago, but got to play some good games against competitive teams. Scored runs and was good with the gloves, a few boxes ticked for me,” Rahul said in an interview with broadcasters. “Hopefully, this continues for the next couple of months. I have been playing in Bangalore since four months, beautiful wickets for batting there. Happy that I got to spend time in the middle, it was a good challenge.” Batting in the middle overs, Rahul knows the importance of playing spin. “Playing spin will be important in the middle overs in the World Cup, looking forward to that challenge. It’s good to play games where bowlers get help.” (with inputs from PTI)