No pressure, no fear... Kuldeep reveals his success mantra

Manchester, July 4 

Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav was at his best in the first T20I against England at Manchester. He picked up career-best 5/24 as India thrashed England by eight wickets. Using his googlies, Yadav bamboozled the English batting line-up and changed the momentum of the game in India's favour.

Asked about his strength as a spinner, Yadav said he was not afraid of getting hit for sixes. “When I started playing cricket, my coach Kapil Pandey would make me bowl in a way that batsmen would hit me for sixes,” said Yadav. “I used to practice getting hit for sixes to understand how it happens in a real game. I don't feel pressure. That is something I learnt early on, and today I am not scared of getting hit.” 

Yadav also stressed on the need to do the basics right. “If you want to take wickets, you need to turn the ball. If the ball isn't turning or drifting, then a spinner is not a spinner,” he said.  

His scalps included three wickets in his third over when he had Eoin Morgan (7) caught in the deep, and had Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root stumped by MS Dhoni for golden ducks. “England's start was quite good. In six or seven overs, they had around 65 runs. When I came to bowl, the wicket was it a bit dry. So, I varied my pace,” he said. “The plan was to stretch the batsmen, so that they don't get any easy deliveries.” — PTI 

Brief scores: England: 159/8 in 20 overs (J Buttler 69, D Wiley 29*; K Yadav 5/24); India: 163/2 in 18.2 overs (KL Rahul 101*, R Sharma 32, V Kohli 20*; D Wiley 1/30)

Kuldeep Yadav, Chahal for India
Yadav took 5 wickets in the first T20I vs England, only second 
Indian spinner to achieve this feat:

Kuldeep Yadav

 5/26 vs England, 2018

The best for an Indian spinner in T20Is is by Yuzvendra Chahal:

Yuzvendra chahal

 6/25 vs England, 2017

One pace bowler too has taken 5 wickets in a T20I for India:

Bhuvneshwar kumar

 5/24 vs S Africa, 2018

Overall, 10 spinners have taken 5 wickets in an innings in a T20I match. Interestingly, six of them are wrist-spinners/mystery bowlers (Ajantha Mendis, Chahal, Imran Tahir, Yadav, and Rashid Khan), while the other four are left-arm spinners (Elias Sunny, Rangana Herath, Imad Wasim, Mark Watt)