India’s wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav said he is enjoying the challenges of playing in seam-friendly conditions in his County stint with Yorkshire. After a mundane Test match against Sri Lanka, where he picked only a solitary wicket, Kuldeep returned with impressive figures of 10-120 against Essex in the County Championship.

Yadav admitted it is always challenging for a spinner in seam-friendly conditions, and he is trying to adapt to the English conditions. The wrist spinner said batters and spinners from India can benefit a lot while playing in the County season.

Kuldeep Yadav said on Wisden Cricket, “I also personally feel it’s very good for batters and spinners from India to play here because of the seaming conditions. Those are challenges you are not going to face at home because you grew up playing there and know the conditions. Here, there are challenges of different conditions, which are not easy to face.”

Yadav revealed he was a fast bowler during the initial days of his cricket career, but his coach urged him to switch to spin bowling.

“I used to be a fast bowler, but my coach told me to switch to spin. I didn’t agree with that and missed a few training sessions. Then he called my dad to ask if I was okay or not. Then I started bowling spin,” said Kuldeep (via the aforementioned source).

The UP spinner revealed how watching the great Shane Warne during the iconic 2005 Ashes inspired him to take up spin bowling.

“I watched the whole 2005 Ashes series where I watched Warne and said I wanted to be like him. That was the best Test series I’ve ever watched, the 2005 Ashes. From then on, I started bowling spin. After watching Warnie, I started picking leg-spin carefully and started doing what he used to do back then. My coach also told me to bowl like Warnie and be a classical leg-spinner.”

Kuldeep would look to continue his rich form.