Indian left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav has recently recalled an incident where he wanted to wake up the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli, at 3:00 am. The spinner from Uttar Pradesh rose to fame during the 2014 U-19 World Cup where the latter picked up a hat-trick against Scotland. He further went on to become the first Indian bowler to take two international hattricks.

Recently, he recalled an incident from his Test debut which happened in the fourth Test during the Australia series. With the series, all level at 1-1, and Virat Kohli not leading the side due to injury, led to vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane take charge for that particular encounter. India decided to go with 5 bowlers as that’s the combination the captain was keen on having.

I wanted to wake up Virat Bhai at 3:00 am: Kuldeep Yadav

In a video posted on Kolkata Knight Riders official website, Kuldeep spoke about how excited he was after he got to know that he’s going to make his Test debut the next day. In that awe of excitement, he even thought of waking up Virat Kohli at 3:00 am. But later backed out thinking he will get a mouthful from the skipper.

“He told me, you are playing tomorrow and I want 5 wickets from you. I was a little intimidated but I confidently said that I would definitely take. I slept early at 9 PM and got up at 3 AM, confused and nervous and wanted to wake up Virat bhai who was next doors.

But I was sure he would get mad at me. So, I went back to sleep and got up at 6 AM,” Kuldeep said. 

Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav did not disappoint his skipper Ajinkya Rahane as he went on to pick 4 crucial wickets on his debut. The win eventually led India sealing the test series vs Australia.

As of today, Kuldeep is with the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in the UAE and will be rearing to go this season. Particularly because he didn’t have the best of the seasons last year as he was smacked all over the park by the batsman.