‘It’s all about your attitude,’ says Siddarth Kaul

It isn’t easy being Siddarth Kaul.

The 27-year-old seamer belongs to Virat Kohli’s team from his Under-19 World Cup days but the career graphs of his and his then captain have been too diverse to even compare. A spate of injuries from 2007-2012 meant he missed out on the game for almost five years at what would have been the peak of his career.

It took a long while but the speed, accuracy and rhythm that made him a success in age-group cricket finally returned in 2013, made more potent with wisdom and maturity, and the pacer has only been improving since then. With exceptional performances on the domestic circuit, he finally got a national call up.

Important member

His contribution in making Sunrisers Hyderabad the table-topper this season has been immense, and the latest purple cap holder showed why he was so important to the team’s plans.

“I don’t rate pitches as good or bad, helpful or not. It’s all about doing your best in the middle. If the pitch is seaming, good. If it isn’t, you still have to give your best, use variations on it.

“It is all about your attitude towards pitches, not the pitch itself. You are doing what you have to do on it, the pitch doesn’t do it. It’s only you at the top of your run-up and your wanting to give 100%,” he said nonchalantly after helping SRH to yet another victory defending a below-par total.

Team effort

It wasn’t arrogance but confidence in his skills. In the last three years, he has been the Punjab spearhead on every possible surface, and succeeded. At the same time, Kaul rates the support from other bowlers as one of the key reasons for the team’s success this time around.

“It’s a team game and everyone is doing their homework well, whether during training or in the game. Everyone has a role, a position to bowl and the support staff is also helping us a lot. Everyone knows when and where to bowl, it’s all about how much hard work you put in practice but most importantly, it is about clicking at the right time, which we are doing this time,” he said.

Asked about Bhuvneshwar Kumar, sitting out of the last three games, Kaul appreciated the inputs. “Almost everyone who is playing here has played a lot whether international cricket or domestic. That said, Bhuvi keeps helping us, even in nets, when he is not playing. More than half of our boys are still learning so when international players give tips about handling a situation, it helps a lot,” said Kaul.