'It was amazing' – Kuldeep Yadav leaves England in a spin

Kuldeep Yadav, India’s 23-year-old left-arm wrist-spinner, said that varying the pace and the flight of his deliveries helped him succeed on Tuesday against England on an Old Trafford pitch that wasn't offering much turn.

The young spinner finished with a brilliant 5/24, which included the wickets of Eoin Morgan, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root in a single over. That restricted England to 159/8, which India chased down with 10 balls in hand in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals as KL Rahul blasted a 54-ball 101*.

“The pitch did not have much turn. I did not want to give pace to the English batsmen as it would have made batting easy for them. I executed my plan very well,” Kuldeep said after the match.

“The ball wasn't turning much. (Yuzvendra) Chahal, who bowled before me, also confirmed the same, so I focused on varying my pace, and the flight of my deliveries,” he went on. “This was the key and it helped me in getting the wickets. I don't think about the batsmen while bowling, I focus on what I can do.”

Kuldeep was delighted after he sent Bairstow and Root back for golden ducks off consecutive deliveries, both batsmen out stumped.

“Obviously they are quality batsmen, and it’s a good feeling when you take two wickets on the trot,” he said. “It was amazing … brilliant, I guess. Three wickets in the over really changed the momentum.”

The spinner also reflected on his experience of bowling to Jos Buttler, who top-scored for England on the day with a 46-ball 69, in the Indian Premier League recently.

“Sometimes, you need to consider the batsman. When I was bowling to Jos Buttler, because I know him well, I have bowled a lot to him in the IPL, I knew that he wouldn't take risks against me and would only take singles, which I was happy to give,” Yadav said.

Virat Kohli, the India captain, was understandably thrilled with Kuldeep’s performance, which gave India a winning start to a long tour of England.

“He is going to be effective on any kind of pitch and with a bit of assistance, he becomes even more lethal,” said Kohli. “He can turn it away from you or right into you and I think it's very difficult to pick. I hope he can keep batsmen guessing.”