Kuldeep Yadav
Out of favour Kuldeep Yadav is hopeful of reviving his fading international career with India's tour of Sri Lanka. While the senior Indian team is in the UK for the five-Test series against England, a "B" team sans skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah is set to play a limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.
The Shikhar Dhawan-led side will play three ODIs and as many T20Is against the islanders, beginning from July 13. Kuldeep, ahead of the remainder of IPL 2021 and the marquee T20 World Cup, sees the Sri Lanka tour as an "opportunity" to be back in the reckoning.
"This Sri Lanka tour is very, very important because, first of all, I’m not a part of the Test squad (in England). And secondly, this is one good opportunity to play and perform. Thereafter, we’ve got the IPL as well, which gives me another opportunity to be back in the reckoning," the chinaman bowler told Telegraph.
"Nothing parallels performance, and if I perform, I know I’ll definitely be back, honestly, I’m not thinking much about a T20 World Cup berth now because it eventually boils down to how well I keep doing. There’s healthy competition in the squad, so I know what my job is.”
The 26-year-old has had a wearisome time with the national side and the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up. He didn't feature in a single game for KKR in the recently-suspended IPL 2021 and was also overlooked from India's squad for the gruelling England tour. Last IPL season as well, Kuldeep played just five matches in the UAE where he added just one wicket to his name.
With the presence of Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya and Varun Chakravarthy in Sri Lanka, Kuldeep will have to leave his mark for boosting his chances of a national comeback.
Kuldeep also revealed that he's in touch with former Indian leg spinner Narendra Hirwani over the "mental aspect" of the sport.
"Hirwani sir is mentally very strong. It’s not necessary that you should be told only about bowling and stuff related to it, your mindset matters too. So I speak to him a lot also regarding the mental aspect and it helps me."
