India captain Rohit Sharma highlighted the hard work put in by Kuldeep Yadav during his time away from the game after the left-arm wrist-spinner shone in India’s Asia Cup 2023 Super Fours win over Sri Lanka on September 12. Kuldeep shot to the top of the wicket-takers list in Asia Cup 2023 after picking up 9 wickets over the last two days.
Kuldeep Yadav was the star of the match for India with the ball as he picked up 4 wickets to help India successfully defend 213 against Sri Lanka in a low-scoring affair at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo and qualify for the final.
It came after Kuldeep picked up a 5-wicket haul in India’s 228-run thrashing of Pakistan in a Super Fours match that started on Sunday and ended on Monday due to wet weather in Colombo.
Kuldeep went wicketless against Nepal despite bowling 10 overs in the group stage but the Delhi Capitals spinner has been in sensational form in the Super Fours stages, picking up 9 wickets in 2 matches.
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“For the past year or so bowling really really well. He has done a lot of hard work on his rhythm. He went back to the drawing board and worked on it. The ball is coming out nicely and you can see the results in the last 10 ODIs,” captain Rohit said after India’s win.
Kuldeep Yadav became the second-fastest Indian bowler to get to 150 wickets in one-day internationals. He is only behind Mohammed Shami who got there in 80 matches when compared to Kuldeep’s 88.
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Kuldeep Yadav, who was India’s key spinner at the 2019 World Cup, lost his rhythm in the next two years and struggled with injury concerns. The left-arm spinner played only 9 matches in 2020 and 2021. However, he shot back to form in 2022, picking up 12 wickets in 8 matches.
Kuldeep was picked as India’s first-choice spinner in the World Cup and Asia Cup squads as he has been in fine form in 2023. Yuzvendra Chahal was left out of the squads as India picked Kuldeep as the first wrist-spinner.
Kuldeep has picked 31 wickets in 15 matches in 2023, laying down an early marker ahead of the World Cup.
‘GOOD CHALLENGE FOR US’
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma said the hard-fought win on a challenging pitch in Colombo was a good test for India in the lead-up to the fianl and the World Cup.
India struggled against spin as 20-year-old Dunith Wellalage picked 5 wickets while part-timer Charith Asalanka chipped in with 4 wickets.
Rohit top-scored with 53 but the rest of the top-order failed. India went past 200, thanks to a 63-run stand for the 4th wicket between KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan.
ndia needed to work hard for wickets as Sri Lanka hung around in the chase before Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya delivered with the ball after Jasprit Bumrah’s early blows.
“Was a good game. For us also to play a game like that under pressure on a slightly challenging pitch. Challenging in a lot of aspects. Definitely looking to play on pitches like this to see what we can achieve, we might as well come here and play on pitches like these,” Rohit said.
India next face Bangladesh in the final Super Fours match on Friday before the big finals of Asia Cup 2023 on Sunday in Colombo.
