IPL 2018: When Kuldeep Yadav met Shane Warne

Kuldeep Yadav was a tad indifferent with his performance in the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) first 12 matches. He picked up nine wickets at an economy of close to nine and couldn’t contribute much to the franchise. However, he came into his own in yesterday’s contest against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and churned out a match-winning spell of 4-0-20-4, which broke the backbone of the visitors’ batting lineup.

Jos Buttler and Rahul Tripathi went hell for leather in the powerplay and helped RR storm into ascendancy. Andre Russell nipped out Tripathi after which Kuldeep dismissed both Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane to garner some momentum for Dinesh Karthik’s men. The left-arm wrist-spinner went on to pin a couple of more batsmen to take the sting out of the Royals’ batting.

KKR’s thumping victory

His jaw-dropping exhibition of bowling rocked RR and they were bowled out for 142 runs with one over remaining. Sunil Narine scored 21 runs against Krishnappa Gowtham in the first over, which set the tone of KKR’s run-chase. Thereafter, the Knights lost a few wickets, but the likes of Chris Lynn and Dinesh Karthik ensured that the Men in Gold and Purple breach the target with a couple of overs to spare and win the match by six wickets.

Yadav was deservingly crowned as the Player of the Match. His ecstasy was multiplied when he met Shane Warne, who was scheduled to leave for Australia after the match, at the Eden Gardens. Coincidentally, both donned the jersey number 23. Yadav didn’t miss out on the opportunity to get clicked with the legendary Aussie tweaker.

The official Twitter handle of KKR posted a picture of theirs with a message which read- “The tale of No.23 s!
When @imkuldeep18 met his idol, @ShaneWarne post a fine show vs RR.#KKRvRR #IPL2018 #KKRHaiTaiyaar”

Here is KKR’s post

The tale of No.2⃣3⃣s!
When @imkuldeep18 met his idol, @ShaneWarne post a fine show vs RR.#KKRvRR #IPL2018 #KKRHaiTaiyaar pic.twitter.com/8tZNMRZwmG

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) May 16, 2018

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