A Player-of-the-Match award usually comes with a trophy, some money and maybe a bit of a headache about what to do with the giant novelty cheque. They never fit in the luggage to carry back home.
Kuldeep Yadav has been given this honour twice in his Test career so far. And each time, he couldn't find a place in the India XI for the next game. Since when did they start smuggling pink slips into these things?
In Chattogram 2022, which was his first Test in 22 months, Kuldeep ran through Bangladesh's middle order in the first innings to set up a comfortable victory for India. He finished with 8 for 113 in that game but in the next one, in Mirpur, a week later, his place was taken by Jaydev Unadkat.
"Ideally, like in IPL, if Test cricket also had the Impact Player rule, I would have definitely loved to bring in Kuldeep in the second innings," stand-in captain KL Rahul said at the time.
In Dharamsala 2024, he was the difference India were looking for against an England side who, when in doubt, often tried to whack it out. Kuldeep took a five-for in R Ashwin's 100th Test match. It almost seemed like a sign. For years, he had been that kid who kept hearing he wasn't tall enough to go on this ride - because Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja kept raising that bar sky high - but now, he was up there with them. Ashwin even insisted that he take the match ball.
Then came Chennai, a pitch made for fast bowling and once again Kuldeep had to make way. It was a gross error in foresight on his part. He should've known all those years ago, when he switched from fast bowling to wristspin, that the 2024 home season would begin in conditions borrowed from Headingley or something.
Now India are in Kanpur, his home ground. A black soil pitch awaits, which usually tends to be batting friendly and eventually starts to take a bit of turn. Kuldeep makes a lot of sense in these conditions, because as a wristspinner he is able to turn the ball both ways and keep the batter guessing. That is part of the reason why Ravi Shastri, when he was India coach, proclaimed that they had found a new No. 1 overseas spinner after Kuldeep took a five-for in Sydney. (Guess what happened when India announced their playing XI in the next match in North Sound?)
There are two ways to deal with a less-than-ideal pitch as a bowler. One, be as disciplined as possible. Deny the opposition easy runs. And if you manage to do that long enough, you might just be able to buy a mistake. The other is what Kuldeep specialises in, his wristspin is capable of rising above the need for any help from the pitch. It is perhaps this belief that made India try him out at Lord's in 2018, but that backfired. He was slow through the air back then and in Test cricket, where there was no need for the batter to manufacture runs, England were able to camp on the back foot and punish him with ease.
Kuldeep has worn these setbacks well, in that he has never given up the one thing that makes him special, giving the batter precious little indication about which way his balls will turn. At a point, when he was being clapped at for being too slow through the air, he clapped back saying nobody was telling him how to be quicker without compromising on his other skills. Even when he was left out, and called out, he was clear in his mind that he wouldn't change anything unless he was sure it would add to the bowler he already was.
That belief can also be seen in how he rarely shrinks when a batter tries to take the attack to him; he still tosses it up. Like when he bowled to Ben Duckett in Dharamsala and had him caught off the leading edge while sweeping. There was no change in length; no thought of flattening it. He just shifted his line wider and made it riskier for the batter to play the shot with which he seemed to want to build his innings.
Bangladesh are a good opposition for Kuldeep to play against. They do not have any real history of wristspin bowlers, let alone facing them on a regular basis. Kanpur is a good place for Kuldeep to play in. He's never had the opportunity to represent India here in the past. Only time will tell though if India are also thinking this way because they have to consider a lot more than just the romance of a hometown boy getting his day in the sun.