India bowling coach Bharat Arun heaps praise on 'unique' Kuldeep

Kuldeep, who was drafted into the playing XI in place of Umesh Yadav, grabbed the opportunity with both hands, spinning a web around the batsmen.

“Kuldeep is a very skillful bowler as he has proved it," said Arun. "He has had a very successful stint in ODIs, and probably he is the number one bowler in the one-day format. He is unique in the sense that very few chinaman bowlers around the world at the moment. Also, he brings googly to the fore."

“And what makes him even more special is his ability to use the crease. He can bowl from over and round the wicket, and he can bowl closer to the wicket and also from wide of the crease. That gives him a lot [of] variety. And I think there is a lot to come from that young kid.

“He didn’t have a great outing in England when he played, but this Test match would give him a lot of confidence. And considering a spinner and his age, I think he has got a lot of cricket left in him."

India made a bold call in playing two spinners – Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja – in the game, but the decision paid off, as the duo picked up seven wickets between them.

“Earlier we had played a practice game at Sydney and also the T20 match. So we were quite aware of the conditions that existed and also we felt that if at all we need to play two spinners that would be at Sydney," Arun revealed.

“This is probably one of the best wickets we have played on from the batsman's point of view. So, we were aware that to win this game we need that many overs to bowl at. Also the fact that weather was a lot kinder than what it was in the first three days and also the fact it’s a great opportunity for us to make it 3-1 scoreline.”

While unsuitable weather and bad light forced the play to be truncated on the day, India managed to bowl out Australia and enforce the follow-on after claiming a 322-run lead.

“Yesterday, when Australia were 150-odd for five, and also taking into account the weather forecast, we said that we would definitely enforce the follow-on if we get them out pretty sizeably," Arun said.

“We do have a lot of respect for their fast-bowling attack and I think they are probably one of the best in the world. But we were more focused on what we could do, and we have also come to Australia previously so we knew how the wickets would be in Australia — very similar to the ones we got in South Africa.

“We drew upon all those experiences and said that to be successful in Australia, we need to make sure that we took the cut and pull out of the Australian batsmen, and then focus on our strengths. That’s exactly what we did."