India vs Bangladesh: Kuldeep Yadav's most recent comeback was about regaining confidence and form

It was a comment that ruffled many feathers – not least that of Ravichandran Ashwin, who admitted he felt a certain way upon hearing those words. 

Rather than become prophetic, they became an albatross around Kuldeep's neck. Before the Chattogram Test against Bangladesh, his last overseas Test was one game in Sydney. 

In fact, between 2019 and 2022, he only played one Test match – a home game against England in 2021. 

For him to come back into the Test format over a year later and pick up a fifer as if it was nothing naturally left many people impressed. 

However, as Kuldeep Yadav put it, it wasn't too hard to transition into red-ball cricket again since he played regularly and was in rhythm. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Well done team India for continuing great result in test cricket. What a game Kuldeep Yadav had 👏 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/INDvsBangladesh?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#INDvsBangladesh</a></p>&mdash; Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) <a href="https://twitter.com/IrfanPathan/status/1604340526865448960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"Had I not been playing the game, then bowling would've been challenging for me. I've been regular in the set-up as I have been playing the white-ball format," he told the host broadcasters. 

"I have played a decent number of games this year. Right from January, I've been playing; I was there in the IPL too. 

"I've suffered injury as well but played a lot of matches. I wasn't there in the World Cup but was playing the red-ball format for India A."

For Kuldeep, this latest renaissance isn't about rediscovering his form as much as it is about finding his confidence again. 

He has openly admitted that his struggles in white-ball cricket, particularly the IPL, from 2019-21, left his confidence in pieces. 

He barely played a game for his franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, in 2019 and 2020 – and missed out on any game time entirely in 2021. 

Since then, he's had to work hard to rediscover his mojo and find the confidence to bowl to his strengths – even at the risk of getting hit. 

This meant maintaining and trusting his rhythm and using his variations to his strength while getting in the batters' heads. 

"Before he left for Bangladesh, I kept on telling him the need to maintain his rhythm as that's crucial for him," his coach Kapil Pandey had said.

"He's mixing it well now with the chinaman, sliders and the straighter ones. More importantly, he's being able to read the batsman's mind.

"Also, if he can take five wickets against Australia in Sydney (in January 2019), why can't he be successful in Bangladesh where spinners get more assistance? That's exactly what I had told him before this Test match," Pandey added.

It's debatable as to whether or not he remains India's first choice when overseas. However, what cannot be denied is that he provides India with a unique option if they wish to call upon him. 

If he continues to bowl like this, he could very well fulfill Shastri's bombastic words.