After having three disappointing and frustrating years due to loss in form and injury, Kuldeep Yadav is back to his best and has certainly sealed his spot for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023, and quite possibly for the World Cup 2023 as well.
Kuldeep Yadav had a tough low in his career from after the 2019 World Cup to 2022 IPL, where a couple of injuries and underwhelming returns with the ball forced him out of the side, plus the combination India wanted also meant he didn’t get to bowl with his wrist-spinner partner Yuzvendra Chahal.
Now, he’s having a terrific 2023 years, and has usurped Chahal for the first leg-spinner’s spot in the side.
Kuldeep Yadav’s revival started in the IPL 2022 with the Delhi Capitals. Last year in the IPL, he picked up 21 wickets and followed it up with a brilliant return to Team India in 2023.
He has snapped up 22 wickets in 11 ODIs in 2023 at a sensational average of only 17 and striking every 21 balls. Further, in 6 T20Is this year, he’s taken 8 wickets with an economy of less than 6.
“Aapse bada bowler nahi hai India mein”: Rishabh Pant to Kuldeep Yadav
One of the key figures in Kuldeep Yadav’s revival is his Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant and head coach Ricky Ponting.
Pant captained Kuldeep last year in the IPL where the chinaman rocked back to form. Kuldeep’s childhood coach Kapil Pandey recently revealed the conversations Ricky Ponting and Pant had with Kuldeep last year that filled the leg-spinner with immense confidence.
Pandey revealed that Ponting hailed Kuldeep Yadav as a “matchwinner” while Pant put him at a high pedestal of being India’s best leg-spinner.
“Ricky Ponting told him ‘I am going to play you all the matches. There is a reason Warnie (Shane Warne) likes you and I can see why. You are going to be our matchwinner’,” Kapil Pandey told The Indian Express.
“Rishabh told him ‘aapko acha karna hoga bhaiyya, aapse bada bowler nahi hai India mein (you have to do well, there is no better bowler than you in India)’,” Pandey added.
Kuldeep Yadav is having a terrific time in the West Indies. In the ODI series, he picked 7 wickets in 3 games, all but sealing his spot for the Asia Cup. He’s continued on the same rhythm in the T20Is.
