Kuldeep Yadav begins fitness drills after knee surgery, posts images

Mumbai, Nov 16:  India cricketer Kuldeep Yadav has begun his training to return to full fitness following a successful knee surgery, which has kept him out of IPL 2021 and also coming back in the scheme of things for the Indian team.

Kuldeep Yadav, who represents the Kolkata Knight Riders, had to return home from the Dubai leg of the IPL this year after he reportedly suffered a serious knee injury while fielding in a practice session.

On Tuesday, the spinner posted images of his stretching and weight-training session on social media, tweeting, "Another day closer (Winking face emoji, Flexed biceps symbol)."

The left-arm wrist-spinner had undergone a successful knee surgery in the last week of September and taken to twitter to give an update on it after leaving the KKR bio-bubble at Abu Dhabi in IPL 2021.

"Surgery was a success and the road to recovery has just begun. Thank you so much to everyone for your amazing support. The focus is now to complete my rehab well and be back on the pitch doing what I love as soon as possible," wrote the 26-year-old with a picture of him after the surgery in September.

It's unlikely Yadav will be able to compete in the domestic season, which started with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on October 30.

The injury was also a big blow to his plans of coming back in the scheme of things for the Indian team. In IPL 2021, Yadav didn't feature in a single match as Varun Chakravarthy cemented himself as the primary Indian spin option in the playing eleven.

Yadav was a main member in India's eleven till the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England, creating a formidable pair with leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Since then, he has been in and out of the Indian team despite taking his second hat-trick in ODIs against West Indies in Visakhapatnam in 2019. He also got demoted to Grade C from Grade A in the BCCI central contracts list for October 2020 to September 2021 period.

Yadav last played for India on the white-ball tour to Sri Lanka in July this year. He took 2/48 in the first ODI and 2/30 in the second T20I. He played in the second ODI and third T20I, where he went wicket-less.