Despite having faced his Delhi Capitals teammate numerous times in the nets, Tristan Stubbs had no idea that Kuldeep Yadav’s greatest delivery of the day would come off the first ball of a new spell. The South African acknowledged that Yadav made him dance to his tune.
Stubbs had hit Kuldeep for a couple of sixes and was one short of half-ton, when the spinner tossed one up, it drifted in the air and began to veer after pitching. KL Rahul took a regulation catch at first slip as Stubbs physically moved his hands in the direction of the ball without moving his feet.
“I have faced him quite a few times. This was the first ball of his new spell and I think the best one he has bowled,” Stubbs, who scored 49 off 113 balls, said at the end of the day’s play.
The batsman gave Kuldeep full credit for setting him up and explained his response when asked if he wanted to direct it beyond the slips for a single.
“From my angle, it sort of beat me in the drift, that’s sort of why my hands got away, so I think that’s how he got me out.
“It was just the drift and my hands sort of following it, so it’s probably on a day one wicket, that’s probably how he’s trying to get you out, but for him to bowl that first ball of his, coming back, I thought it was quite impressive,” Stubbs couldn’t stop gushing about the delivery.
In response to Stubbs’ persistent complaints that the India star doesn’t bowl at him enough at the Delhi Capitals nets, Kuldeep actually pulled Stubbs’ leg in the middle.
“We’ve always chirped each other that he hasn’t often bowled to me, and then today he walked past and he said, ‘You can’t say I don’t bowl to you anymore’.
“But I have faced him enough. I have sort of played with him, so you get the feel. If I had to think about him before the series, on a good wicket, how would he get you out, it’s probably what he’s done there, just like I think with the drift, angling and sort of no spin.”
Head coach Shukri Conrad elevated Stubbs, a specialized middle-order hitter, to No. 3 because he believed that a mindset shift was more important than a technical one.
“It’s not the easiest thing moving around but whatever the coach asks, I’m just happy to be in the team. I have worked a lot on my defence as I had been a white ball player.
“….and then being asked to go about at number three, so I grafted hard on the defence and because I find that at number three, you can afford to be a little bit more defensive,” said Stubbs, who played 113 balls on the day.
“The change is not so much technical, but I think more mental, probably tightening your game plan, especially if it’s doing a bit up front and maybe checking your scoring options.”
Everyone believes that Barsapara is a better track for survival, even though it is not one where a batter can play free-flowing strokes, given the level of difficulty experienced by batters in Kolkata.
“I definitely think it’s a better wicket for batting. You can bat time, but you look up and the scoreboard’s sort of gone nowhere.
“I do think they bowl quite well, the seamers especially, just kept bowling straight lines, attack the stumps, and they sort of bowled to contain.
“So I think they bowl nicely, but all of us had opportunities, and if you look in it, no one kicked on, so we can take that blame on ourselves,” he added.
