Delhi Capitals (DC) rode on Kuldeep Yadav's magnificent show with the ball to clinch a four-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday (April 28).
Kuldeep once again was seen in his elements as he scalped 4/14 to fold the two-time IPL champions to 146/9. In reply Rishabh Pant-led suffered a batting collapse after David Warner's (42 off 26) dismissal but then Axar Patel (24 off 17 balls) and Rovman Powell (33 not out off 16) led the charge to help DC reach the target in 19 overs to hand KKR their sixth defeat of this year’s campaign.
For his stunning show with the ball, Kuldeep was adjudged the Player of the Match. In the post match presentation, when asked about the the competition between him and Purple Cap holder Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep said,"There has never been competition with him (Chahal). He's like my big brother and has always backed me. He kept motivating me when I was injured and I hope he wins the Purple Cap".
Pant introduced Kuldeep in the eighth over of the innings and the 27-year-old former KKR spinner struck on the second ball to open his account. He first sent Baba Indrajith back to the pavilion, and on the next ball, he trapped dangerman Sunil Narine in front of the wickets.
And just as KKR were beginning to recover from the double jolt, Kuldeep came back to haunt them in the 14th over, dismissing Shreyas Iyer and Andre Russell. For the Knight Riders, Nitish Rana top-scored with 57 from 34 balls, while Rinku Singh made 23 off 16 balls. KKR could only manage to score two runs and lost three wickets in the final over of the innings, which was bowled by Mustafizur Rahman (3/18).
"I might have become a better bowler, but I am mentally stronger than before. When you fail in life you pick what you can improve on and that is something I had to improve. I don't get scared of failing now. I liked Russell's wicket as I set him up, it was my plan and when there were a couple of dots I knew he would step out. This is the best IPL season for me. I am enjoying my bowling. I don't think what the batter will do and what if I get hit. My focus has been to bowl the right line and lengths. I felt there was bat but thought the ball had touched the ground but when Rishabh went up then I was positive, it was an important wicket as Shreyas was batting well," Kuldeep further added.
