India vs Windies: Kuldeep thanks his IPL experience after winning the Man of the Match award

India hasn’t had too many Chinaman bowlers in its cricketing history. Kuldeep Yadav has changed much of that script since his arrival in international cricket and his performance in the first of the three-match T20I series against the Windies at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday showed once again that he is a special talent.

Kuldeep took three wickets for just 13 runs to seriously push the Windies on the back foot after the Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat. His three scalps included Darren Bravo, Rovman Powell and captain Carlos Brathwaite and those dismissals left the current T20 World Champions reeling at 7 for 63, requiring only a miracle to save the day for them. India lost five wickets to reach the eventual target of 110 inside 18th over to take 1-0 lead in the three-T20I series.

Kuldeep Yadav said later that his long stint with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League helped him to do well in the game at the Eden Gardens which also is the home ground of the Knights. His effective spell of four overs against the Caribbeans indeed showed that how good he knows the conditions and made a better use of them than the visitors.

It gives advantage, confidence

“It plays a part. It’s been five years with KKR. I have played all the IPL games there. It gives you massive advantage. It gives confidence as well. I know ground and wicket as well. I know the ground well, the pitch here does not offer much turn. I know the speed of the outfield and every angle. So it helps a lot and gives me immense confidence,” the 23-year-old bowler said in a post-match press conference.

Kuldeep is only the second Indian bowler after Bhuvneshwar Kumar to have five-wicket hauls in all the three formats – Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He currently has 113 international wickets from five Tests, 33 ODIs and 13 T20Is.

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