Ashwin and Jadeja 'keep pushing me in the nets' – Kuldeep Yadav

Yadav's performances in limited-overs cricket over the last few months have been exemplary, but he hasn't yet fully established himself as a Test player. He says that learning from the likes of Ashwin and Jadeja keeps him motivated.

"When you know you have Ashwin and Jadeja, the best spinners and you are the third one, so there is a lot to motivate yourself and learn from them," said Yadav after the day's play on Saturday, 5 January. "They keep pushing me in the nets that you have to bowl this way in good areas. So I am very motivated and it is important to learn from them because they have played enough cricket and I am still learning."

"Sometimes it's hard you know when the batsmen are picking you," Yadav said. "And that's the beauty of cricket you have to keep learning every day and I'm still learning every day.

The wrist-spinner was a part of India's squad for their five-Test series in England last year and even got a chance in the playing XI in the Lord's Test. However, he was ineffective in the game, unable to replicate his white-ball heroics with the red ball.

"That England tour was challenging for me and when I played there in the Lord's Test match," admitted Yadav. "After that, I really worked on my bowling with my coach so you know for a spinner, any spinner, it's very important to stick with the basics and just follow what we call the basic thing of spin bowling: a little bit of flight, turn the ball.

"More important than the perfect area is deceiving the batsman in the air. That's the more important thing for me and I'm still working on that. I don't believe in mystery or something like that. If you're good enough to deceive the batsmen in the air that's good enough for me and I'm looking for that only.

"I have played enough cricket to have decent enough knowledge and in Test cricket, I will need a little more time perhaps to improve. The more you play with the red ball, the more you can improve."

The 24-year-old said that regular playing time and the tutelage of MS Dhoni made it relatively easy for him to cut corners in limited-overs cricket. However, he believes that with the right exposure and experience, he is likely to grow into his role in the longest format of the game.

"So definitely there are many senior players...Virat is there, Rishabh also keeps telling [me things], any wicketkeeper will tell you things. It's easier in ODIs because you are playing regularly and Dhoni is there, so he has played so much cricket he keeps telling you what to do.

"Test cricket is similar, the more you play the better you can read batsmen and there is enough time to plan for batsmen, can bowl more overs, change the field. In ODIs you have only 10 overs and bowl to a field plan because you can have only four fielders outside the circle. Test cricket is quite different. [There are] enough senior players who are happy to talk and help