How Kuhnemann has managed to outbowl the Sri Lankan spinners as Australia runs rampant in Galle

Matt Kuhnemann’s longest-standing nickname on the field is an ode to how similar his bowling style is to star Indian all-rounder and left-arm spinner, Ravindra Jadeja.

The Australian slip cordon simply cannot make up their mind on what they want to call Matt Kuhnemann while he’s bowling. And they’ve gone through their repertoire a few times over. There’s the more common and generic nickname of Kuhnee that they generally tend to go. But on the field, it’s a free for all, or so it’s seemed, with Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith in charge of coming up with options, with none of them really sticking.

Kuhnemann’s longest-standing moniker though is Jaddu, or Jaadu the way they say it here. It’s an ode to how similar his bowling style is to star Indian all-rounder and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja.

The rechristening had come a few summers ago, courtesy of his then-Queensland teammates Usman Khawaja and Labuschagne. It stuck and has travelled with him to Tasmania, to where he moved base at the start of the 2024-25 season.

Ironically, Jaddu is the one nickname Kuhnemann struggles with. He’d told me in an interview just before this series about how uncomfortable he is with being compared with someone he really looks up to.

“Mate, I’m nowhere in his class,” he said with a sheepish grin. “He’s far better at what he does. And I do kind of get a little embarrassed when they call me Jaddu.”

“It didn’t sound like he was being modest, either. But whether he likes it or not, Kuhnemann won’t be able to ward it off anymore. Or be allowed to get “embarrassed” at being called Jaddu.

Australia’s Matt Kuhnemann takes the prized wicket of Sri Lanka’s Prabath Jayasuriya, caught by Steve Smith, on day three of the second Test in Galle (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Not after he’s pulled off a Jaddu over the past two weeks in Galle. Not after he’s bowled as well as Jadeja at his peak to finish as the highest wicket-taker of the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, with remarkable figures of 16 wickets at 17.19 and a strike rate of 34.6.

Jaddu will stick. Jaadu will stick. And whether the Australians finally are able to make one of their other makeshift monikers for the 28-year-old stick or not, Kuhnemann has more than cemented himself into their plans for the subcontinent for a long time to come.

He’d shown glimpses of his skills and his temperament in the cauldron of India two years ago, even pulling off a star turn in a famous win in Indore. But what he’s been able to in Galle is out-bowl the Sri Lankan spinners, including Prabath Jayasuriya, whose record at the venue is extraordinary, on pitches that they’ve grown up on. Unlike Kuhnemann, whose leanings have mainly been at the Gabba before he took his wares to Bellerive Oval on surfaces that offer little to no assistance or leanings for young spinners.

What makes his performances in Sri Lanka even more remarkable is doing it with a thumb that he’d broken completely and is still heavily bandaged. To do so without having been able to be a part of the camp in Dubai, which everyone, including Steve Smith, has pointed to being vital to the success of the team and the individuals within it.

And to do so after having waited patiently for two years to get a chance to don his Test cap again. Kuhnemann has spent most of that time constantly checking out his baggy green at home, even putting it on his head for good measure. He admitted to having checked on it more than even his own passport on his way to Sri Lanka, this being his first overseas trip with his treasured possession. All while studying the dirt marks on it from Indore and reminiscing about his great memories of having made an immediate impact as a Test cricketer.

Matt Kuhnemann bowls Australia towards victory in Galle (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

In that time, he’s also grown into a much better spinner, blessed with more control and more variety. Even impressing Daniel Vettori, the assistant coach and mentor, with the way he’s now able to build pressure and set up batters on turning pitches. In addition to being versatile with regards to playing multiple roles like he did here in the second Test. A defensive role in the first innings when Lyon was running through the top-order and then turning into an enforcer in the second innings once the pitch had started to play more tricks.

It also means Australia now have a real weapon in their ranks to forge ahead and plan more Test series wins in this part of the world. To have the perfect partner for Lyon to dictate terms of South Asian batters in their own den, like they’ve done here against a very experienced Sri Lankan batting line-up.

Kuhnemann did catch the eye of Jadeja in 2023, and even managed to grab some advice from the Indian superstar.

“I said, ‘Have you got any tips for me after the last Test?’. He said, ‘Yes, at the end of the series,’” he had joked after his Test debut in Delhi.

He didn’t seem to need them when he spun Australia to victory in Indore a fortnight later. The two did catch up at the end of that series and Kuhnemann still has the tips handed down from Jadeja written down in his bedroom.

“Got those notes with me and I’ll use them here,” he’d said a few days before the first Test.

And they surely came in handy as Kuhnemann ended up emulating the spinner with whom he still struggles to being compared.