IPL 2024: Confident Kuldeep Yadav banking on his strengths with T20 World Cup on horizon

Kuldeep Yadav, after having a mixed bag of 4-0-55-4 against Sunrisers Hyderabad over the weekend, is neither dejected by seven sixes that were hit off him nor is he over the moon with four key wickets he picked for Delhi Capitals.

But the wrist-spinner, who is nearing 30, admitted that the prolonged knee injury break in 2021 made him realise how to back his strengths and respect the opponents. More importantly, he realised the worth of people.

“When you are not doing well, that’s when you need a core group of people around you who you can fall back on. I had my coach (Kapil Pandey) and my family doing the same for me,” a relaxed Kuldeep says.

“The discussions with the family opened me up about my approach towards life. And my coach made me realise what I had to do to enhance my skills. I had tried adding pace earlier but not in the right way. Then I went to the physio, he suggested some changes and all of them worked together after the injury.”

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While Kuldeep attributes India captain Rohit Sharma for ‘showing faith in me immediately after the injury break‘ he narrates how Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting and bowling coach Shane Watson helped him get his mojo back in Indian Premier League 2022, his first season with Delhi Capitals.

While Rohit pushed him to concentrate on his Test batting earlier in the season, Kuldeep jokingly revealed Rohit’s advice to him just before the IPL.

“All he told me was to take it slightly easy and not stretch myself too much,” says Kuldeep, with a glitter in his eyes and the confidence of doing well in the T20 World Cup.