Kuldeep’s Superpowers Leave West Indies Baffled
Two contrasting identities are part and parcel of several superheroes. It forces you to delve deeper and gauge the two sides of a character. Somewhere in an imaginary world, Kuldeep, the redoubtable wrist-spinner, also belongs to the fantasy land of Marvel Comics. On occasions, he can rip through a batting unit by imparting enough revs and getting the ball to dip tantalisingly on the unsuspecting batter. On other days, it is a different version of Kuldeep on display, one bereft of confidence.
On a hot and humid afternoon in Thiruvananthapuram, it was Kuldeep at his very best. All he needed was one wicket, and after that, he did not look back.
The stock ball. The googly. Pace variation. All those well-known ingredients in Kuldeep’s quiver were on display. To make it a perfect day for Kuldeep, a bit of timely advice from Rohit Sharma on how to bowl at Shai Hope also worked wonders.
By now, one can also visualise the macro picture on a large canvas: he deserves to be backed a lot more by the Indian management. It is a given that the management will always look for greater batting depth. But with his box of tricks, Kuldeep is the kind of spinner who can break a game. We saw glimpses of that in the first ODI against West Indies. In that context, the fact that Kuldeep has played a mere 19 Tests does not make much sense.
Incidentally, to regain his mojo after being dropped for the second and final Test in Sri Lanka, Kuldeep had to play County cricket in England, where he bagged a 10-for against Essex. It can’t be easy for a cricketer to maintain his form when he is in and out of the side.
Kuldeep is also an old-school wrist-spinner who believes in beating the bat in the air. In modern-day limited-overs cricket, and with the kind of equipment batters use, it has become increasingly difficult to stick to the traditional edicts of spin bowling. In this day and age, the leather ball need not hit the sweet spot for it to travel all the way. Perhaps there is no concept of the edge of the bat in the modern cricketing landscape. In such circumstances, Kuldeep’s performances have to be celebrated more.
In an era where the subtleties of cricket are becoming redundant, a quintessential Kuldeep spell forces you to examine a particular Shane Warne quote once more. “The art of leg-spin is not just bowling a leg-break; the art of leg-spin is to examine, deceive and outwit,” said Warne in his autobiography, No Spin. “That is the whole art. And within it is the magic.”
The thousands who had gathered at the Greenfield International Stadium got to see that wizardry.
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