New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders' Kuldeep Yadav has had a mixed campaign in the Indian Premier League 2017 season but as per the former Australian spinner Brad Hogg, the chinaman bowler could be key to India's chances of defending the Champions Trophy title if chose in the squad.
Hogg, who previously shared the KKR dressing room with Kuldeep, spoke of how the Indian could be really effective in England.
"Yes, Kuldeep can be effective in England. The best cricketers are the ones who can adapt to foreign conditions," Hogg was quoted saying by PTI.
"Great thing about the sport is no two countries are same. There is always something different that adds to the variety of the different individuals. One of his (Kuldeep) next job will be to bowl on different wickets."
The Aussie, who played 123 ODIs, 7 Tests and 15 T20 Internationals for the Kangaroos, said how Kuldeep's bowling variety could pose opposition huge problems.
"He is a different bowler for sure. There aren't too many chinaman bowlers in world cricket at the moment. Kuldeep has great variety and strength of any spinner is his variations. You may know all the tricks in the trade but no point using the tricks if you haven't yet mastered a stock delivery," said Hogg.
He also said that it is important for a bowler to vary his speed through the air, depending upon the format he is playing.
“If you are playing 50-over cricket, a leg-spinner can be bit more slower and use his leg-break. In Test cricket, it’s entirely different where you have to be very patient. Coming to T20, one needs to be a bit more quicker through the air,” he said.
"Someone like Badree skids deliveries into pads a little bit more so that batsmen don't free their arms. In T20 cricket, one needs to be a little bit quicker so that the batsmen don't come out of their crease.
"You can't bowl good length in T20s as a batsman would hit you out of the park," he continued.
"T20 is more about regularly building pressure and not allowing batsmen to score. Try and build on the dots. Limit the ones and engage one batsman who's going after you."
Imran Tahir and Rashid Khan have been very successful leg-spinners in this edition of the IPL and Hogg is impressed with how captains have used their attacking options wisely.
"Leg-spinners can be operational in Powerplays and some have been used in the middle period when the ball gets scuffed. It's about utilising at right times. All captains have used leg-spinners wisely. That's the biggest factor. When exactly are you using them," Hogg further said.
(With PTI inputs)
