Kuldeep Yadav picked 8 wickets in the match including a fifer and scored 40 runs in 1st innings.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav played a Test match for the first time since early 2021 and had a memorable outing not only with the ball but with the bat as well, as he helped India defeat Bangladesh in the first match of the Two-Test series in Chattogram.
Kuldeep Yadav made hay as he picked 5/40 and 3/73 with the ball and also played a crucial knock of 40 in India’s first innings to push the score to 404 runs. Then he bamboozled the Bangladeshi bowlers to pick a fifer helping India bowl them out for 150.
In the second innings, Bangladesh fared well with the bat, but Kuldeep picked two important wickets, that of Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan, who looked dangerous with 84 runs to his name, as they folded for 324 runs chasing 513 to win.
For his effort, Kuldeep Yadav was named the Player of the Match.
Speaking in a video shared by the BCCI on Twitter, Kuldeep Yadav talked about his performance and said: “I am very happy. I worked very hard for it. And the team also needs five bowlers when you play a Test match, so you want all five bowlers to perform well. I am happy because I am playing red ball after a long time for India. So I am very happy with my performance.”
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The spinner also went on to explain his plans with the ball to be attacking the batters all the time.
“Me and Akshar were sitting and discussing that the mindset has to be attacking because when you have a big score and you get hit for a couple of shots, you try to bowl short. So we decided to be attacking and to go for a wicket on each and every ball so that we are always in the game. If we get defensive, it would be problematic,” Kuldeep added.
India will play the second and final Test against Bangladesh from 22 December onwards in Mirpur, Dhaka.
(BCCI inputs)