Wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav is eager to trade the trials and tribulations of 2019 with a successful 2020 for India.
Yadav took four wickets in nine matches for the Kolkata Knight Riders during last year's Indian Premier League. He was eventually dropped from the XI, but has been retained in the squad for the 2020 IPL.
“It was a tough year. I learned a lot of things and the biggest positive was getting to know that I could have planned things better,” said Yadav.
Yadav is part of India's ongoing T20I series against India. He impressed with the key dismissals of middle-order duo Kusal Perera and Oshada Fernando in the second match in Indore, where India won to take a one-nil lead in the series. The third and final T20I will be played in Pune this week.
“When you are playing at a small ground like Indore, we tend to plan something different compared to when you are playing at a big ground like Nagpur. My plan was to keep the ball away from them, because of the size of the ground. I bowled a couple of balls near the stumps, but they were not effective,” he added.
“And I was trying to take the ball away from them and make them mistime some balls and that is how I got the wicket of Kusal Perera. So that was plan for the second game.”
Yadav pushing for T20 World Cup selection
The 25-year-old Yadav is in contention for a spot in India's squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. India have been pooled with England, South Africa, Afghanistan and two qualifying teams. India won the first World Twetny20 (since renamed the T20 World Cup) in South Africa. They beat Pakistan in that final. They have reached one T20 World Cup final since, but lost to Sri Lanka.
India are blessed with several good slow bowlers, including leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and the young Washington Sundar. They also have the veteran Ravichandran Ashwin. He is India's leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cup cricket.
