On black soil surface, son of soil Kuldeep primed for comeback

IT was in Kanpur that his childhood coach Kapil Pandey asked a young Kuldeep Yadav to switch to left-arm wrist spin from fast bowling in his formative years.

- FIROZ MIRZA

Kuldeep later admitted that the transition was not easy but it eventually helped him to a standout among his peers.

Years later, the wrist-spinner is expected to spin a web around his opponents in the same city with the same skill set, which he once resisted acquiring. The rain forecast for the first three days along with the nature of the pitch at the venue could force both teams to change their playing XIs which in turn may lead to the inclusion of either Kuldeep or Axar Patel in place of the third seamer as far as India are concerned.

The second match between India and Bangladesh at the Green Park Stadium, beginning on Friday, will be Kuldeep's maiden Test in front of his home crowd if he gets into the playing XI. He made his Test debut in 2017 but has played only 12 Tests since (in the last seven years, Kanpur has hosted only one long format game, against New Zealand in 2021).