Kuldeep Yadav asserted that no one minds what Rohit Sharma says on the field as he termed it as his love for the players.
Premier spinner Kuldeep Yadav opened up on his camaraderie with skipper Rohit Sharma on and off the field. The wrist-spinner flourished under Rohit’s captaincy and has become a crucial part of all three formats. After an underwhelming IPL 2020, Kuldeep’s place came under the scanners and a knee injury in 2021 made things worse for him. He underwent surgery and missed a big chunk of cricket, however, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him as he worked on his game during rehab at the NCA and made a sensational return.
Kuldeep Yadav shares his relationship with skipper Rohit Sharma.
Under Rohit’s captaincy, Kuldeep has been performing consistently well and turned into a match-winner, especially in white-ball formats.
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The 29-year-old revealed the crucial advice he received from Rohit when the two were recovering from their respective injuries at the National Cricket Academy.
“He was there at NCA when I was there rehabbing and then bowling. He had actually wanted me to incorporate some of the changes I was doing much earlier in fact. He would say when I stand at slip I feel the batsmen have enough time to play you off the pitch, that I need to get more energy through the action and that the batsman should not get time to play me. If he thinks he can get onto the backfoot to play me off the pitch, the ball should rush to hit the stumps or the pad. What he had thought in the past, I was now doing,” Kuldeep told Indian Express.
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Rohit has been an inspirational figure in the dressing room as he has backed the youngsters in the recent series to display their potential on the big stage. His on-field stump pic antics have also gone viral in recent times where he can be heard advising or scolding his players to stay attentive on the field.
Kuldeep asserted that no one minds what Rohit says on the field as he termed it as his love for the players.
“We have a great connection, we move around a lot together, we share personal stuff. So our bonding has been great. And the stuff he says on the field, no one minds. We have that relationship. Jo bhi voh bolte hain, humare liye pyaar hai unka (it’s his love for us),” he added.
The 29-year-old further hailed the Indian skipper for backing the youngsters even they feel down and underconfident about themselves.
“He guides and backs all the youngsters. He shows trust in others. Even If I didn’t have trust in myself, Rohit would tell me or the other person, ‘I trust you, bindaas khel’. As a batsman, he understands bowling and so that was helpful,” he added.
Kuldeep impressed many with his batting ability in the recently concluded Test series against England as the star spinner gave credit to Rohit for helping him out in that department.
“Now, he doesn’t tell me anything about bowling. We have reached that stage where he is focusing on my batting now, he talks a lot to me in nets and even told me after the Test series what I can work on in the break now. I feel lucky he is there,” he concluded.
