It is always tough playing for India: Kuldeep Yadav

It wasn’t just India who romped over the Australian contingency to register a series triumph, underlining their imperious dominion back home. India A produced a similar performance to derail New Zealand in the unofficial ODI series, securing an unassailable 2-0 lead to walk away as the series winners with one game to spare.

Rajat Patidar played an instrumental role in the opener while Kuldeep Yadav chipped in with a four-fer against the travelling Kiwis in the second ODI that helped India confine the visitors to a modest total on the cards. Kuldeep has suffered a lot of injuries in the preceding year and will be hoping to make a comeback to the national team once the showpiece event meets its end.

Kuldeep injured his knee in the precursor edition of the IPL where he was forced to undergo a surgery before he could make a return. Just ahead of the South Africa series, he suffered a hairline fracture in his wrist that once again came as another major setback.

Talking about braving insurmountable odds back then, Kuldeep said, “I did not know how to cope with not getting enough game time," he said after the game on Sunday in which he picked up a hattrick. "After the [knee] injury layoff of four months, I realised that I need to bowl quicker and began working on it. I am not afraid of failures now. When you fail, you learn. When I came back to the Indian side in January, I was not afraid of failure. I wanted to enjoy the game. My focus is to keep hitting the good lengths. [Getting] wickets is not in my hands, I just want to bowl in good areas.”

He shed some light on how he has adjusted his rhythm to suit himself after his injuries, highlighting, “To be honest, when I got injured, coming back from there, understanding my rhythm was very important. I was a little bit slow. After surgery, I have changed that rhythm, bowling with more effort and more control."

Fast forward the clock to this year’s IPL and Kuldeep was in pretty decent touch. Raving about his comeback, the chinaman spinner said, “Coming back, I was bowling well in the IPL [this year] before I got hit in the nets and was out for two months. [Later] in the West Indies, I bowled really well, and in Zimbabwe as well. Accuracy and speed were phenomenal. Then coming back, I've played red ball [against New Zealand A]. I've [also] played two [one-day] games here, in the first game also the control was beautiful. I am very happy."

He concluded by highlighting the silver lining that awaited him at the end of all the storms as he said, “When you keep playing, you learn. You want to play more games but that could not happen. I actually didn't know how to cope with it. The injury was lucky for me. I could understand my body and on the comeback, began thinking about my rhythm. It is challenging but you have to see the other part as well... It is always tough playing for India."