Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav is an Indian cricketer who is a left-arm wrist spinner (Chinaman). He represents the Indian National Cricket Team across formats.

Known for his ability to generate turn and deceive batters, Kuldeep is a useful asset in India's bowling lineup.

Kuldeep was born on December 14, 1994, in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. He rose to prominence with his performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL), representing the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Kuldeep made his maiden appearance in the cash-rich league in 2016, but it took him two years to arrive on the big stage. His ability to bamboozle batters with his left-arm wrist spin earned him recognition and praise from cricket enthusiasts, with his best season for KKR coming in 2018 when he took 17 wickets in 16 matches. 

Kuldeep made his debut for India in a Test against Australia in March 2017 and picked up four wickets in the first innings. A few months later, he made his ODI and T20I debuts, both coming on the tour of the West Indies.

One of his notable achievements came in 2017, when he became the third Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in ODIs. The feat was accomplished during a match against Australia at the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Kuldeep replicated his performance against the West Indies in 2019, becoming the first Indian bowler to take two hat-tricks.

However, like any athlete, Kuldeep went through a tough phase. The pair of KulCha (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) took India to another level as the team considered the duo over Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in white-ball cricket. However, in their first big tournament, the ODI World Cup 2019, the inexperienced spin duo were taken to the cleaners by England's Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow, eventually forcing their partnership into oblivion.

This hurt Kuldeep big time as his performance deteriorated. He lost his place in the Indian side, and KKR too had to bid him goodbye. Delhi Capitals then purchased him and in IPL 2022, the UP-born was amazing as he scalped 21 wickets in 14 matches.

Playing for Delhi Capitals did wonders for Kuldeep, who again became an all-format bowler for India, with his 2.0 version being even better. 

Kuldeep was India’s main spinner in the 2023 ODI World Cup. He claimed 15 scalps at a stupendous economy of 4.45. In the 4-1 Test series victory over England at home, the chinaman bagged 19 wickets in 8 innings, including a five-wicket haul in the final Test’s first innings and also played a significant part with the bat on several occasions.

(As of March 2024)