Kuldeep Yadav was named the Player of the Match for his impressive figures of 3 for 18.
Delhi Capitals spinner Kuldeep Yadav on Sunday (27th March) talked about his spell against Mumbai Indians in the second match of IPL 2022 in Mumbai.
After warming benches for KKR in the last two seasons, Kuldeep made a sensational comeback in the IPL. Playing for Delhi Capitals, the wrist-spinner picked three wickets in his side’s staggering victory over five-time champions.
Yadav, who was bought by DC for INR 2 crores at IPL 2022 auction, cashed on the opportunity in his very first match for the franchise and claimed the Player of the Match award. He came into the attack when MI was going great guns with Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma smashing bowlers all over the park.
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The Kanpur-born spinner removed skipper Sharma and then followed it with a wicket of Anmolpreet Singh in his next over to put the opposition under pressure. He returned to bowl in the 16th over and repaid the faith of his captain by removing Kieron Pollard and finishing with figures of 3/18.
Speaking to the broadcaster during the mid-innings break, Kuldeep Yadav said that he talked to head coach Ricky Ponting about his line and lengths and he’s delighted that he executed that well today. He also talked about his pace and revealed that he worked on it in the last few months.
“Before the start of the IPL, I had discussions with Ricky Ponting on what line and length I should bowl and I did just that today. I was controlling my pace, increasing when I wanted to and slowing it down when necessary. This is what I have worked on in the last few months,” Kuldeep Yadav said.
Explaining why wickets of Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard were ‘satisfactory’ for him, Yadav said that the duo was looking dangerous and had they continued batting they could’ve added a lot of runs to the total.
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“The wickets of Rohit and Pollard were crucial and more satisfactory to take as both were looking dangerous when they got out. Rohit bhai was going strong and if Pollard had stayed till the end, he could have added a lot more runs to their total," he said.
Talking about the pitch, Kuldeep said that although there was no help for a spinner, sticking to line and lengths was key to taking wickets.
“There was no support for spinners in the pitch, it was quite good for batting. But if you stuck to your line and length, you can get wickets on such pitches," he said.
Chasing the target of 178 runs, DC were tumbling at 104/6. But a superlative batting effort by Lalit Yadav and Akshar Patel, who stitched a 79-run partnership, helped the Rishabh Pant-led side chase the target with 10 balls to spare.
(IANS inputs)