Siddharth Kaul has fallen off the radar after two terrific IPL seasons. The promising youngster broke into the Indian national side in 2018. However, a lackluster IPL in 2019, where he took 6 wickets in 7 matches, removed him from the Indian side, forcing Kaul to go back and relearn his art.
Kaul’s grit and determination bore fruit when he returned to peak form during the ongoing Ranji Trophy, picking up 25 wickets in 4 matches with an average of 12.92. These numbers are the best in the history of the series after Jaydev Unadkat’s average of 11.86.
Talking about his struggles to return to the national side, Kaul told the Hindustan Times,
“Don’t think I changed anything. I just went back to the basics. I needed to figure out how to use my natural swing. I worked on my consistency, started using the crease, got the inswing and outswing going.”
In his last three matches, Kaul has picked up a five-for. In his match against Andhra Pradesh, his five-for included a hat-trick, which uprooted the middle stump of all three batsmen. Kaul explained how he used the crease to create an angle.
“I was developing this thing (going wide of the crease) for a long time, was working on this even in last season but this has come good this time around. I want the batsman to keep guessing.”
He explained his new bowling style by saying,
“Your plan cannot be similar. It has to change based on match situations. When you have the opposition at 10 for 3, you bowl differently, you attack more but when they are 80 for no loss, only swing can’t get you breakthroughs, you have to do something else and be patient.”
Kaul, who last played a national against Australia in February 2019, stated that he is not worried about returning to the national team.
“I think about giving my 110% whichever team I’m playing for. My job is to play and perform for my team. I can’t think much about selection. If the selectors think I’m good enough, I’ll make a comeback. It’s their call.”
However, the right-arm medium pacer was hurt when he saw that his name was not included in the India A teams for the New Zealand tour.
“Obviously I was surprised… You perform in all domestic circuits; you see my record, I don’t think I performed badly in domestic cricket. 230 wickets in Ranji, more than 100 (114) wickets in T20s. So it’s up to the selectors. I don’t have any Godfathers. I can’t ask them to pick me,” said Kaul.
The 29-year old expresses his dream to play for India once again in all formats of the game.
“I hope I can become an all-format bowler. I’m ready to bowl in any situation and at any point in time. I’ve been bowling with the new and old ball for Punjab, no reason why I cannot do it at the international level.”
