Former Australian captain and current Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach, Ricky Ponting, revealed that the franchise had already planned to sign the left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. The coach also revealed the story behind the spinner’s amazing transformation in the recent tournament.
Delhi Capitals (DC) spent INR 2 crore to acquire the services of Kuldeep, and the wrist-spinner didn’t disappoint the franchise, as he finished as DC’s highest wicket-taker with 21 scalps in 13 games in IPL 2022. He also finished among the top-5 wicket-takers in the tournament.
Speaking to Isa Guha on The ICC Review, Ponting said: “He was one of the targets of mine going into the auction because I’ve seen how good he has been in the past. His skill hadn’t gone anywhere.”
He further explained, “It was a matter of us getting really close to him and working him out as an individual. Try and set an environment and training regime for him to try and bring out the best in him.”
Ponting concluded, “We all worked really closely with him. Watto (Shane Watson) in particular worked a lot with him on the mental side of the game, and we got some really good returns from him. His name will come up I’m sure, because he’s something that little bit different – left-arm leg-spinner.”
