Indian wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has recently revealed that he terribly feels MS Dhoni’s absence from the side. Notably, Dhoni hasn’t played a single competitive game since the 2019 World Cup semifinal clash against New Zealand.
As a result, Yadav has had to ball without MS Dhoni behind the stumps ever since. Fans are also eagerly waiting for this year’s IPL as they are keen to watch Dhoni back in action for Chennai Super Kings. Incidentally, the veteran wicket-keeper batsman had started training but had to call-off in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
MS Dhoni was good at field setting – Kuldeep Yadav
Despite Dhoni’s absence, the 25-year-old has picked a couple of hat-tricks, the recent one coming against West Indies in 2019. Recently, Kuldeep Yadav spoke about how he wasn’t the best in reading the pitch initially when his career began and would often take advice from Dhoni about variations in his deliveries during a match. He further added how Dhoni was always like a coach to him.
“When I started my career, I wasn’t good at reading the pitch. I never actually thought about the wicket. So, I didn’t plan on how to bowl if it was a spinning track, or had some grass on it,” Kuldeep was quoted as saying on ESPNcricinfo.
“I learned about this aspect after I started playing with Mahi Bhai. He would often tell me when I needed to spin the ball or where I needed to pitch it or when I need to bowl a fast one. I never felt that I was missing my coach, who used to keep pushing me to spin the ball more,” he stated.
Kuldeep Yadav further added how didn’t pay much attention to the field setting as MS Dhoni would take care of it. He also added the former India skipper used to understand the mindset of the batters and accordingly set the field.
“I didn’t pay much attention to field-setting as well because Mahi Bhai was very good at it. That’s why I never paid attention to field placement when I bowled with him keeping the wicket. He understood where the batsman could try to hit me and set the field accordingly,” Kuldeep added.