As a power-hitter, Moeen Ali demonstrates a perfect bat swing, the beauty of the arc while sending the ball a distance. Integral to a vastly improved England white-ball set-up, Moeen hasn’t quite nailed down a spot for himself in the rejigged RCB batting unit in IPL. But on his days, especially those when he’s able to negotiate the short-ball well, Moeen can be a dangerous proposition for the opponent. Few players treat the yorker gone wrong with the level of disdain that Moeen does.
One would expect Kuldeep Yadav to have known all that the left-hander has to offer before the start of that over in an IPL 2019 match at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. But what happened over the course of six balls, made the wrist-spinner seem helpless as Moeen smashed him around the iconic venue for a 26-run over.
Kuldeep had no safe response to the onslaught. Preempting that arc, he sent the first one wide, only for Moeen to hit it wider past long-off for a four. Next ball, same line, Moeen took a step across and carted it over wide long-on. “Destroyed” showed the giant screen and so was Kuldeep’s confidence with those two hits, as the next one got belted straight for another boundary. Under pressure, Kuldeep fired in the next one, but that didn’t make any difference to Moeen, who blazed his willow for another six. The penultimate ball travelled over long-off for one more maximum. This was the most severe of attacks by an overseas batsman on an Indian spinner in the IPL history. Till the time Kuldeep changed his angle and Moeen got out top-edging one off the last ball, he had broken Kuldeep and set RCB on their way to a winnable target.
This was the same game we witnessed the sorry sight of Kuldeep down on one knee, shedding a tear from his eyes. It was heartbreaking to see a young Indian talent like that. Kuldeep hadn’t been in the best of form leading into and during that IPL, so one can be sympathetic to the 25-year-old. Yet, the feeling that he was for too long at risk of having a day as bad as this one in T20 cricket is simply unavoidable.
Being a left-arm wrist-spinner, Kuldeep, while a rare commodity, symbolises also the return of classical spin bowling at the top level game. At his best, the young man exhibits the most delightful flight above the eye-line, before the same ball dips and turns either way to leave the modern-day batsmen puzzled. At his age, Kuldeep hasn’t played the amount of first-class cricket he should’ve. Nevertheless, he has all the raw qualities to develop into a force in Test and ODI cricket. In T20, however, it’s easy not to feel as optimistic of Kuldeep’s future.
In many ways, the mauling Kuldeep received at the hands of Moeen is reflective of the fundamental difference between T20 and other forms of the game. While Test and ODI force teams to balance aggression with caution and preserve their wickets over a long period of time, T20 fastens the process of maximising each ball to a degree where teams don’t fear losing wickets anymore, at least not as long as they’re on course for a big total. This effects approach from one format to the other. From bowlers’ perspective, T20 is about limiting the damage as much as possible. A good defensive ball, either in trajectory, length or speed, executed perfectly, is the most important determinant of a successful T20 spell. T20 playing conditions, in general, are such that bowlers can’t operate with the attacking length that suffices perfectly in Test cricket. Kuldeep can identify an area and target it over a spell to great success in ODIs; in T20, when he flights the ball, it’s only a fooder to the arc of batsmen like Moeen.
But as we’ve seen with champion T20 spinners like Amit Mishra and Yuzvendra Chahal, flighting the ball isn’t exactly the worst ploy, as long as the bowler is able to identify the right times for it while also varying the height and the angle of the flight. The flighted ball can’t be a mode of attack in T20, it has to be sporadic and put in an area away from the bat where the chances of surviving the big hit and finding the edge are high. Chahal, being a master of it, gets many batsmen out caught throwing the ball wide. Yet, considering they’re right-arm leggies, it must be relatively easier for both Chahal and Mishra to be able to vary the angle even midway through their action and change the trajectory. And here is where Kuldeep’s case stands-out.
Why Kuldeep wasn’t able to respond to Moeen’s attack the way one would’ve expected Chahal to? The answer lies in Kuldeep’s action. As a left-arm wrist-spinner, Kuldeep’s classical action isn’t easy to deliver correctly each time. For any bowler, the action is a process on which depends heavily whether he’ll be able to execute his plans perfectly. In Kuldeep’s case, varying the flight and putting the ball away from the arc, is made significantly tougher by his action. When Kuldeep is at the top of his delivery stride, he can’t flex his left arm to an angle in a way Chahal and Mishra can their right. This means, when the ball leaves Kuldeep’s hands, it’ll always carry a certain amount of air and will land in batsman’s much preferred T20 areas. As Moeen got for his over.
In the IPL, four of Kuldeep’s five seasons have seen him concede above 8 runs per over. He has an overall economy rate of 8.27 after delivering nearly 150 overs in the league’s history. In the season gone by, the wrist-spinner was dropped after a few outings as KKR found a more robust T20 option in Varun Chakravarthy who, through superb performances in UAE, had earned himself a ticket to Australia for the T20I series before a shoulder injury ruled him out sadly. Dropping him for Chakravarthy is a sign that even India are beginning to look past Kuldeep in the build-up to the successive T20 World Cups coming up. Interestingly, he boasts of a fine international record in the slam-bang version, with an economy of only 7.11 despite being a regular four overs bowler across 20 innings. The selectors probably feel Kuldeep’s numbers will only regress in the future. That, while knowing sides initially struggle to pick wrist-spin. But over a period of time, with repeated sighters and analytics available to teams, India prudently don’t want to overlook Kuldeep’s limitations.
The other aspect of Kuldeep’s T20 game that the selectors must’ve kept an eye on is whether he is responding to failures positively. In a format where bowlers are generally fighting a battle of survival, handling pressure and showing that mental resolve when the batsman is on top of you, must be an X-factor that attracts the decision-makers. This is where Chahal has an edge over most spinners in Indian cricket at the moment. A chess player when young, Chahal has toughened up over the years being RCB’s lone warrior. The shrewd leg-spinner has built a legacy of sorts, having taken 121 wickets with an economy of 7.67 after 355 overs spanned over 8 seasons of IPL. This stellar record, despite hardly any support around him and playing half his games at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, makes you take your hat off for the man’s skillset and also his guts as a cricketer. The younger Kuldeep maybe more gifted as a bowler, but Chahal possesses a zeal that will always help him punch above his weight.
The mental aptitude is something that Kuldeep may build on as he gains in experience. But will he able to transform himself as a bowler completely to suit the T20 demands? I don’t think so. The good thing, though, is that Kuldeep doesn’t necessarily have to become a T20 great like Chahal for him to gain prominence within the Indian set-up. He shall focus his energies on becoming a feared asset in Test and ODI cricket. This maybe a sacrifice at a time when T20 is the game’s most frequently played format and also its wealthiest one, but playing for India, it would be wise of Kuldeep to try and maximise his strengths and keep himself relevant in a system not short of talent and depth.
