It's a dream come true for me, says debutant Kuldeep Yadav

After forcing Australia to huff and puff to his left-arm wrist spin, debutant Kuldeep Yadav on Saturday acknowledged that it was a "dream come true" when he helped India bundle out the hosts for 300 in their first innings of the fourth and final cricket Test here.

The chinaman returned with figures of 4/68, including the prized scalp of the dangerous David Warner (56), who forged a 134-run second wicket stand with skipper Steve Smith (111).

"I am very happy. It is a dream come true for me. In a Test match you can't ask for more than this," the youngster said after the day's play.

 

The 22-year-old Kanpur lad conceded that he was nervous at the start of the match but gained confidence when he was thrown the ball by stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane.

"Initially I was nervous when I was standing at fine leg in the first over. But then it felt normal for me. I have improved my fitness levels, which helped me with my bowling."

Commenting on the nature of the wicket at the picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium, which is hosting a five-day fixture for the first time, Kuldeep said: "The wicket was good to bat on, the ball was not turning much. There was a little bit of help for the spinners. I bowled just wicket to wicket and variations."

Besides the key wicket of Warner, Kuldeep spun his web around Peter Handscomb and Ranchi Test centurion Glenn Maxwell with his unconventional spin.

Right-hander Handscomb went for the drive to what looked like a fuller delivery but the drift did the trick with the Aussie caught having too much gap between bat and pad and the ball beating his inside edge and knocking the bails off.

Maxwell was next to go after failing to pick the wrong one from Kuldeep, who bowled with a scrambled seam with the ball crashing onto his stumps.

"Obviously I worked a lot on my variations be it the wrong one, flipper and the normal chinaman. For Handscomb I set up the plan. I showed him the wrong one first, and then bowled him with the chinaman," said Kuldeep, whose best first class figures are 6/79.

--IANS

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