Kuldeep Yadav repays team management for their confidence in him

Kuldeep is a rhythm bowler, who needs regular exposure. Sitting on the bench does not help his cause. The more he bowls, the better he gets

Kuldeep Yadav’s coach Kapil Dev Pandey maintains that Kuldeep is the type of bowler the more he bowls the better his performance gets. That’s what has happened in the two matches of the Champions Trophy with the Kanpur-born left-arm wrist spinner. After a rather tame outing against Bangladesh, going wicketless while giving away 40 runs, Kuldeep came back strongly against Pakistan, picking up three crucial wickets in the middle phase of the innings to help India dismiss their arch-rivals 241 in 49.4 overs.

Kuldeep is a rhythm bowler, who needs regular exposure. Sitting on the bench does not help his cause. The more he bowls, the better he gets. Thus, it was a great decision by the team management to play him against Pakistan even after a rather subdued display against Bangladesh. The moment leg-spinner Varun Chakravarty was included in the Champions Trophy team, it was being debated who between him and Kuldeep would be picked in the playing XI. Varun had a very strong performance against England in the T20I series and many felt the leg-spinner should be played in the ODIs too in place of Kuldeep. Then after the Bangladesh win it was being speculated that Varun may replacfde Kuldeep. However, coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Rohit Sharma showed confidence in the Kuldeep and that has undoubtedly boosted his morale.

Kuldeep delivered the ball of the innings when he deceived dangerman Salman Agha. The batsman stepped out a trifle too early only to be flummoxed by Kuldeep’s googly and hit across the line. The leading edge was taken by Ravindra Jadeja. To add to Pakistan’s misery, the following delivery Kuldeep had the tall Shaheen Shah Afridi plumb leg-before, and followed it up with Naseem Shah caught by Virat Kohli to complete his three-wicket haul.

300
No. of international wickets taken by Kuldeep Yadav, including his 3-40 v Pakistan on Sunday

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