What a tale it has been for the baby-faced Kanpur boy, who still looks like a teenager. He was overweight when in school and that is when his father asked him to take up cricket to at least get involved in some form of athletic workout. That is when the chips-loving 22-year old boy decided he was going to become a bowler. He had seen very little cricket to idolise someone, but he had found Wasim Akram from Pakistan fascinating and decided to emulate him.
Then one fine day his coach Kapil Pandey asked him to roll his arms over with a shorter run-up and that is when he bowled his first delivery with a shorter run-up and it was a chinaman. It was Kapil Pandey who kept his morale high by speaking to him constantly while he was on the benches in the first three Tests. This is a delivery that is very difficult to pick. This ball was first bowled in 1923 by a player called Australian player who was Chinese.
Kuldeep Yadav first shot to fame when he took a hattrick in the U-19 World Cup in Dubai. It came against Scotland after remaining wicketless in the opening match against Pakistan. This was soon spotted by the Kolkata Knight Riders scouts and he was roped into the mix. Last season, he was almost a regular fixture in the line-up.
But it finally worked out in his favour when he got to make it to the national team in the all-important decider against Australia. And he grabbed his opportunity with both the hands by picking up four wickets helping India wrap Australia for 300 in the first day.
We are certain he will have a bright future and make the country proud.
