After a rather ordinary performance in the side’s opening game against Hong Kong, India’s bowlers were on song in their final Group ‘A’ Asia Cup clash against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed’s decision to bat first after winning the toss at the Dubai International Cricket stadium did not go according to plan with the men in green being bowled out for 162 runs on a slow-paced pitch.
India’s spinners were the stars of the show in the middle-overs with young Kuldeep Yadav once again putting in a solid performance. The left-armed wrist spinner finished with figures of 1-37 from his eight overs. Here, we take a closer look at the bowling performance of the 23-year-old.
STATISTICS
OVERS BOWLED: 8
RUNS CONCEDED: 37
WICKETS: 1
MAIDENS: 0
ECONOMY-RATE: 4.62
30-SECOND REPORT
The young spinner came on to bowl when Shoaib Malik and Babar Azam were putting together a solid third-wicket stand for Pakistan. Kuldeep was initially taken on by Malik who looked to attack the spinner in order to unsettle his rhythm. After being hit for a big six, Kuldeep struck back by picking up the wicket of a well-set Babar Azam with a ripper of a delivery that gave the batsman no chance. That wicket broke a 82-run stand for the third Pakistan wicket. Thereafter, the wrist spinner was quietly effective with batsman struggling to score runs off him on a slow surface.
OUT! Superb bowling by Kuldeep Yadav, outfoxes Babar Azam with an excellent googly, he's bowled! Out after making 47 off 62 balls, Pakistan 85/3 in 21.2 overs #INDvPAK #AsiaCup2018
— PakPassion.net (@PakPassion) September 19, 2018
GOT RIGHT
Perseverance. Despite Malik taking him on at the start of the spell and depositing him for a couple of big hits, Kuldeep stuck to his strengths by giving his deliveries enough flight and loop and ultimately reaped the rewards with the big wicket of Babar Azam.
After bowling a conventional leg-spinner at the right-handed batsman in the previous delivery, Kuldeep completely outfoxed the Pakistan star by bowling a wrong-one at the same spot. Not anticipating the googly, Babar played for the leg-spin and then could only watch in disbelief as the ball spun past his bat to take the top of off-stump.
Kuldeep Yadav’s celebration says it all.
GOT WRONG
When he came on to bowl initially, Kuldeep was a little too eager to try his variations. In his very first over, the youngster bowled four googlies. This tendency let the wrist-spinner become a tad predictable with Malik and Azam having no trouble negotiating him comfortably at the start.
VERDICT – 7/10
For the second match in a row in the Asia Cup, Kuldeep changed the momentum of the match with his wrist-spin. Against Hong Kong, his double blow had put the brakes on Hong Kong’s innings following a 174-run opening stand. On Wednesday, Malik and Azam were threatening to take the game away from India but Kuldeep’s breakthrough put the cat among the pigeons in Pakistan’s batting order as they slumped for 85-2 to 110-6.
That was a collapse the men in green never recovered from with Kuldeep’s undoubted big wicket-taking abilities coming to the fore once again. He might have had a Test series to forget in England but make no mistake, there aren’t any better spinners than the youngster when it comes to limited-overs cricket currently.
