Kuldeep Yadav admits being nervous while bowling to MS Dhoni

The Kolkata Knight Riders completed an emphatic win over the Rising Pune Supergiant yesterday, courtesy to some wonderful batting by Robin Uthappa and skipper Gautam Gambhir. The Rising Pune Supergiant put up a decent total of 182 runs on the board batting first.

But the run chase was made to look surprisingly easy as Gambhir and Uthappa played some brilliant shots to chase down the target. However, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav who picked up 2 wickets in the match including the important wicket of MS Dhoni was happy with the fact that he was successful in putting the opposition under pressure in the final overs of the Rising Pune Supergiant innings.

“As a spinner, I believe my job is to soak in the pressure and get wickets for my team, which in turn puts the pressure on the opposition. Bowling the 18th over in a T20 game is always difficult. You need to have your captain’s backing. I bowled that over and luckily got two wickets today, so I am happy,” Kuldeep said after the game.

The left-arm spinner also admitted that he was a bit nervous while bowling to Dhoni but at the same time was happy to have picked up his wicket.

“It is obviously challenging to bowl to Dhoni bhai. I was under pressure while bowling to him. But I wasn’t scared of getting hit for a four or a six. I flighted the ball and was looking to dismiss him. Fortunately, it came off today,” he added.

The bowler further spoke about the importance of playing the whole domestic season as it gives a player a lot of confidence coming into a big tournament like the Indian Premier League.

“Playing an entire domestic season, getting highest runs or wickets obviously helps you a lot. You have that momentum then, when you come to play a tournament like IPL. Playing the domestic season has helped me a lot, given me a lot of confidence coming into IPL,” concluded Kuldeep.