On His Maiden UK Tour, Kuldeep Yadav Feeling at Home

Malahide (Ireland), June 28 (PTI) It is still early days in his maiden tour of the UK but Kuldeep Yadav feels he has adapted well to the conditions with a four-wicket haul against Ireland in the opening T20 here.

Yadav also underlined that India's easy 76-run win over Ireland yesterday was down to hosts' inability to play spin properly.

“The score was good so it was easier as we had a target to bowl at and defend. A spinner always tries to bowl according to the target. From an individual point of view, it was quite good because I was bowling the way I wanted to bowl and I used the variations well too,” said Yadav.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan scored attacking half-centuries and India finished with 208-5. Ireland could only manage 132-9 in response with Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal sharing seven wickets.

“They batted well against pace and got a good start too. But they struggled against our spinners because they weren't using their feet too much. Also, we vary our pace and bowl slower at times, and perhaps they are not used to this type of bowling. But the more they play (against top sides), they will get better,” said Yadav.

India have had two practice sessions and now some game time as they continue fine-tuning for the long England tour.

“Conditions here seem to be normal. I haven't seen too much difference (from other overseas tours). Perhaps wickets are a bit slower and the ball is turning. I felt normal (in practice and in the game), and didn't feel that it has been something new,” said the spinner.

“The weather is a bit colder and conditions are different from India. But it was easy to adjust and for me it is a normal thing. After one game you cannot say how wickets will be throughout the tour. This one had a little turn and the ball was turning, but as we play more matches on this tour, maybe the wickets in England will be different,” he added.

Irrespective of conditions or targets set by his batsmen though, Yadav outlined that his prime focus is always on taking wickets.

“Every bowler has a different style so they may bowl differently as per the situation. However, I always think of picking wickets because if I try to control runs, I will give away more runs. So it is important for me to take wickets and get breakthroughs for my team because I am that type of attacking bowler. My style is different,” he added.

Ireland Gary Wilson chose to look at the positives after the heavy loss to the visitors. He also admitted that they were not good enough against the Indian spinners.

“We didn't expect the pitch to spin like it did in the second innings. There spinners are very good and would have spun it in the first innings like that as well so I don't think we can blame the conditions by any means or preparation," said Wilson.

“We need to go back and need to figure out how we will play Kuldeep and Chahal in the second game. We can only get better (against quality spinners) with playing more game. It is covered in FTP now as we have 65 games in next four years so we are going to play more," he added.

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