New Delhi: Australian spin legend Shane Warne said that Indian chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav could end up challenging Pakistan’s Yasir Shah as the best leg-spinner in world cricket at the moment.
Earlier this year, the 23-year-old made a memorable Test debut against Australia in Dharamsala, where he ended up with four wickets in the first innings. When he was handed the India caps for the 50 and 20-over formats, the left-arm wrist spinner didn’t let anyone down and continued to win the faith of the skipper and the team management with consistent performances.
He has played a crucial role in India’s success in ODI’s of late and hasn’t let the team miss the services of two of it’s greatest spinners-Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
Recently, he became only the third Indian in ODI history to take a hat-trick, during his match-winning spell against Australia in the second ODI in Kolkata.
Warne took to Twitter, where he heaped praise on the youngster as he wrote, “If young Kuldeep remains patient when he’s bowling in all forms then he could challenge Yasir as the best leg spinner in the world & quickly.”
The legendary leg-spinner had earlier met Kuldeep during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year where he had a brief chat with the youngster (arranged by the then Indian head coach Anil Kumble) and was highly impressed with his ability to cultivate doubt in the minds of the Australian batsmen.
Warne tweeted, “Was a pleasure to meet young Kuldeep when I was last in India. I really enjoy him bowl and cause confusion even against Oz.”
Earlier, Australian legendary chinaman bowler Brad Hogg had lauded Kuldeep’s efforts so far in international cricket and had predicted that he would be, “something special for Indian cricket.”
The youngster indeed has justified these statements and praises from such huge figures in international cricket is undoubtedly going be a huge boost for the 23-year-old.