England vs India: Kuldeep Yadav creates history, surpasses Shahid Afridi

Kuldeep Yadav has been in superlative form ever since the first match versus Ireland in Dublin. He was the leading wicket-taker in the series with seven wickets from two contests. He carried forward his form in the T20Is against England as well. In the first match, he ripped apart the Brits’ middle order at Old Trafford in Manchester with a five-wicket haul.

He went wicket-less in the next match in Cardiff and was sidelined for the third T20I in Bristol. He wicket-churning spree didn’t end there and he replicated the same in the first ODI at Trent Bridge in Nottingham as well. The chinaman bowler churned out a masterful spell of 10-0-25-6 and dictated terms to the English batsmen with his guile and trajectory.

Kuldeep overtakes ‘Boom Boom’

En route the awe-inspiring numbers, he made own quite a few records. He also surpassed former Pakistani spinner Shahid Afridi to become the spin bowler with the best bowling figures in an ODI on English soil. Afridi’s record came way back in 2004 when he pulled out a spell of 6-1-11-5 against Kenya at Edgbaston in Birmingham in the ICC Champions Trophy.

Kuldeep started the carnage with the wicket of Jason Roy, who went for a reverse-sweep only to holed out to Umesh Yadav. In his next over, Joe Root fell prey to him. Jonny Bairstow was trapped in front by the tweaker and from a position of strength, the Poms found themselves in a rabbit hole. He broke the ominous looking stand of 93 runs between Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes by dismissing the former for 53 runs.

Stokes tried to break the shackles by going for a big shot off Kuldeep but hit the leather into the hands of Siddarth Kaul. It also gave Kuldeep a five-wicket haul. He finished with the wicket of David Willey in his last over to notch the six-fer.

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