Life comes full circle for Kuldeep against England

If you're a mystery spinner in 2023, there are countless close-ups of your grip, dozens of analysts breaking down your release from slo-mo footage, and opposition batters poring over every flick of your fingers.

You think you're the finished product? That deception will always be your friend? That you will forever leave batters gawking open-mouthed at clattered stumps? The world has news for you. Whatever trickery has brought you here may not last. Under the blinding spotlight of international cricket, so little of your game can remain in the shadows.

So it was for Kuldeep Yadav in the 2019 World Cup, on a cloudy Birmingham afternoon. Kuldeep, partnered then with Yuzvendra Chahal (giving rise to #KulCha), had in 2018 magicked his way repeatedly through the England batting order, claiming nine wickets at 16.44, in a three-match ODI series.

But a year later, there Kuldeep was, being bullied by the same opposition. Jason Roy smoked him repeatedly down the ground, Jonny Bairstow danced down the pitch and thumped him for sixes or stayed in his crease and reverse-swept him for fours. In his ten overs, Kuldeep was ransacked for 72.

The next year was also unkind. After being dropped from the XI before the end of that World Cup campaign, Kuldeep went for a run-a-ball through his next nine ODIs. In that time he averaged 44.72 - a wristspinner both struggling for wickets and failing to build pressure through the middle overs. When he was let go from the squad entirely, you wondered if that had been the last of him at the top level.

It wouldn't be the first time, right? Mystery spinners - match-winners when they are hot, liabilities when unravelled. The genre of cricketers most likely to have a shelf life.

That Kuldeep has successfully reinvented himself, and bowled his way back into the India XI, is credit to his own pursuit of evolution, of course. But it also speaks to an increasing resilience in Indian cricket, which provides players multiple paths back. If it is not the National Cricket Academy, it is a state body, and failing that, the IPL. Whatever ails you, there is knowledge, there is investment, there is support.

In this World Cup, roughly four years after his game broke down, Kuldeep has been a vital part of India's attack, never going wicketless, proving difficult to dominate, and mounting a strong resurgence even in the one match in which he was blasted.

It is in that New Zealand game in Dharamsala that all of Kuldeep 2.0 was in evidence. He had bowled slower in the early overs, looking for big turn, but when Daryl Mitchell came down the pitch and repeatedly launched him straight, Kuldeep would find ways to reply. When Mitchell shaped to reverse-sweep, Kuldeep would usually slip in the quicker ball - sometimes bowled like a cross-seam delivery, not looking for sideways movement off the surface, but frequently bowled at more than 100kph, and occasionally gaining a little extra bounce when the ball hits the seam.

In general, there is just more zip in Kuldeep's deliveries now. The old revolutions on the ball, and the turn, is still there, but the most obvious of the technical changes is his straighter approach to the crease, which in turn means there is more body behind the action, which takes stress off the shoulder, and a stronger front arm. Essentially, when batters are crashing him for boundaries, as Mitchell - and to a lesser extent Rachin Ravindra - did in his first five overs, Kuldeep now has an entire defensive section of his bowling to fall back on. He can slide them quickly with the arm, get others to skid through into the pads out of the front of the hand, and slip in fast, wide googlies with the leg side open, tempting right-hand batters to drag him against the turn.

As for many other successful mystery spinners, it is having strong defensive options for when pitches are flat, or batters are flying, that allows them to be more persistent with their attacking deliveries. If boundaries come, there is belief that control can be regained, both within the bowler, and from his captain. After going for 48 in his first five overs against New Zealand, Kuldeep was not rushed out of the attack. His last five overs cost only 25, despite his earlier tormentor Mitchell still being at the crease. He also claimed two wickets, both with quickish deliveries. He should have had another - the wicket of Mitchell - had Jasprit Bumrah held a straightforward chance at long-off.

There is irony to Kuldeep showcasing his newfound mettle ahead of his next World Cup game against England. In their own way, England's white-ball team has come full circle too, reprising that familiar England avatar, in which they drag their carcasses around the tournament.

To the extent that they have been able to prepare for India, following their crushing defeat to Sri Lanka on Thursday, England will have pored over footage of Kuldeep 2.0. Perhaps they will have clocked too, that his game does not seem so easy to dismantle as it had once been in Birmingham.