'The way he has evolved...': Robin Uthappa heaps praise on Kuldeep Yadav ahead of Asia Cup clash against Pakistan

Former India cricketer Robin Uthappa showered praise on Kuldeep Yadav and highlighted the latter's improvement in recent times. This comes after the left-arm spinner bowled a terrific spell of 4/7 against UAE in the Men in Blue's Asia Cup opener and played a key role in the side's thumping 9-wicket victory.

Kuldeep was the pick of the bowlers for India and dismissed the likes of Muhammad Waseem, Rahul Chopra, Harshit Kaushik and Haider Ali during the match against UAE. Thanks to his fiery spell, Suryakumar Yadav & Co. bundled out UAE for a mere 57 runs and went on to chase down the modest target in just 4.3 overs. Pakistan also started their campaign on a winning note and defeated Oman by 93 runs.

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Uthappa hailed Kuldeep for becoming more aggressive, sharp and clear in recent times. He further remarked that the spinner is a 'dangerous' bowler across all the three formats.

"Kuldeep is a maverick. The way he has evolved from where he was to where he is now is phenomenal. He’s become more aggressive, sharper, and clearer in his plans. When you listen to him speak, you can sense the clarity in how he wants to execute and how he plans to work batters out. That’s what makes him so dangerous across formats," Uthappa said on Sony Sports Network.

The controversy around the IND-PAK match

Meanwhile, India will be facing-off against arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Though there have been a lot of calls to boycott the encounter, the game will be going ahead as planned. Many people were against the idea of the two teams playing cricket against each other due to the fact that political relations between the countries reached a new low earlier this year. It all began with the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April which saw 26 innocent Indian people lose their lives. India then decided to launch Operation Sindoor as a retaliation and decimated terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan.

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On the other hand, the Asia Cup clash between India and Pakistan will be highly important for both the teams as a victory here will leave them on the cusp of qualifying for the Super 4 stage.