It's very important to start off very well – Kuldeep Yadav

The Indian bowlers have been off to a sensational start with their new-ball duo of Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah making waves across the sub-continent while the spinners have later joined the party. In the last game, however, it was the spinning pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja who allowed India the first glimmer of hope with a couple of quick wickets.

Even a couple of months prior to the World Cup, there were serious concerns about India’s bowling attack with Bumrah still to get fit with Siraj and Mohammed Shami being the warriors up front. However, come the World Cup, India now have an excellent bowling attack that is being successfully carried forward by the in-form pacers

Talking to ICC ahead of India’s prized fixture against New Zealand, India’s key turner, Kuldeep Yadav heaped praises on India’s pace duo, highlighting how they have made life a lot easier for the spinners later in the innings. Yadav said, “It's very important to start off very well with the first Powerplay. Jasprit and Siraj have done really well.”

He further added, “Not just giving us wickets, but probably just containing the runs as well (for) when me and Jaddu bhai (Ravindra Jadeja) come to bowl. We've always got one or two wickets, only today (against Bangladesh) we felt that they got a very good start.”

Kuldeep also shed some important light on his partnership with Ravindra Jadeja, adding, “We're just working on the length and we're keeping it very simple, me and Jaddu bhai. We're getting good wickets as well, but it's very important to keep it very simple and just maintain that in every game, that's very important. If you pick an early wicket in the middle overs, definitely it gives you confidence and it just controls the run rate as well.”

He concluded by talking about the importance of India’s collision with New Zealand, stating, “The opposition is good, but we feel we are very comfortable playing good cricket. That's more important than anything. Obviously when you face good sides in the World Cup, there's a lot of pressure, but at the same time it's very important to keep calm and keep playing good cricket. We as a team are doing really well, so we'd just like to continue the same in the next game.”