Kuldeep says bowling in Duleep Trophy helped him find his rhythm back

New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) Having warmed the bench through the five-Test series in England, India's star spinner Kuldeep Yadav said "bowling a lot" in the Duleep Trophy helped him get his rhythm back in time for the Asia Cup.

Kuldeep finished the tournament as the highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps at an average of 9.29, and in the final against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday, he bamboozled the opposition batters to return excellent figures of 4/30 in four overs.

"When you have not played cricket for a long time you need rhythm... that was important for me and I played my first Duleep Trophy game in which I bowled a lot.

So, when I came for the tournament, my bowling was obviously going well," Kuldeep said during a chat with teammate Rinku Singh, the video of which uploaded by BCCI on its website.

"My role was to control the runs in the middle overs and take wickets. The captain had a lot of faith in me, and I fulfilled my role very well," a pleased Kuldeep added.

Along with Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel, Kuldeep formed a formidable spin troika that left batters clueless with their guile and variations.

"I don't have fixed goals, my only motivation is to give my best, whenever I get a chance to bowl contribute to the team," Kuldeep said on his preparations for the continental tournament.

On his part, mystery spinner Varun said he was happy to have lived up to the team management's expectations after being assigned the difficult job of bowling in the power play as well as death overs.

"Very glad to be doing this role for Team India and definitely when GG (head coach Gautam Gambhir) and (captain) Surya told me that I will be doing the tougher role, as in bowling in the power play and bowling in the death also." Varun called Sanju Samson his big pillar of strength before engaging in a brief interaction with the Kerala stumper, who also played his part with an useful knock in the middle-order after India lost two wickets in the final against Pakistan.

"This guy has been a pillar of support for me, yes, a very big pillar from the neighbourhood! Sanju Mohanlal Samson," Varun said in another BCCI video as Samson joined him for a chat.

Samson said he had to absorb the pressure after the two early wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, as India chased 147.

"I was a stable guy, I had to absorb the pressure , I had to just be there and watch the ball and play my game and use all my experience. I have been around for a few years now, so I know that I wanted some proper partnership with Tilak, good right-left combination..." Samson said.

"They were looking for wickets.. so I thought I will just play my shots and just looking at the ball and that really helped," he added.

Rinku Singh, who finished the chase with a boundary in the only ball he faced in the match, said he has been working hard on his batting and fielding. PTI AH AH AT AT