Visakhapatnam: Left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav has revealed that he was confused which delivery he should bowl while going for the record second hat-trick in the second ODI against West Indies which India won by 107 runs.
Kuldeep, in his eighth over during West Indies’ chase of 388 on Wednesday evening, dismissed Shai Hope (78), Jason Holder (11) and Alzarri Joseph (0) and became the first Indian bowler to pick two hat-tricks in international cricket.
“I was a bit confused which one to bowl — the wrong ‘un or the chinaman. I thought wrong ‘un is the best option and I put a second slip there. I was thinking to bowl the off-middle line and if he misses then I will get the wicket. That was the plan,” the 25-year-old said while speaking at the post-match press conference.
Kuldeep had previously taken a hat-trick during the 2017 series against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. He also has a hat-trick to his name at the U-19 level for India.
The left-arm bowler further rated his hat-trick as his best bowling performance as there was a lot of pressure on him because of the slump in form.
“The last 10 months were very tough for me. After consistent performances, there comes a phase when wickets don’t come by and you start thinking more about your bowling. After the World Cup, I was dropped from the team, then I worked really hard for four months,” Kuldeep said.
Kuldeep said after his dip in bowling performance, he worked on his variations.
“I have worked on my variation, pace and accuracy which is why the pace that I have bowled in the last two ODIs had been great. The way I used my variations, I am very happy. I think it is not about new variations but more about varying pace according to the nature of the track. In India, the tracks are on the slower side and you need to mix it up — sometimes fast, sometimes slow. I worked with Bharat Arun Sir and Ravi (Shastri) sir, both motivated me,” he said.
In the first ODI in Chennai which India lost by eight wickets, Kuldeep had gone wicketless for 48 runs. However, he said that more than bad bowling from the hosts, it was good batting from Shai Hope and Shimron Hetmyer that changed the complexion of that match.
“We bowled well in Chennai also. I think at times, we should give credit to batsmen also. The manner in which Hetmyer and Shai Hope batted was praiseworthy. They paced it well. When they felt, they attacked, when they felt, they defended. There were obviously areas which we could have improved, and that’s what we did over here,” he said.
The two teams will now face each other in the series decider on Sunday in Cuttack.
