Star spinner Kuldeep Yadav brings a huge breakthrough for India against New Zealand in the finals of the Champions Trophy happening in Dubai. On the first ball of his spell, Kuldeep dismissed Kiwi’s top in-form batter and the top scorer of the tournament, Rachin Ravindra, who was looking in good shape in the finals. He was hitting and thrashing bowlers earlier and was also near his fifty. He, then also dismissed the star batter Kane Williamson.
Kuldeep has been under the radar of fans and captains on the field. Earlier, in the semifinals, he was scolded by skipper Rohit Sharma for his misfield, and he also failed to pick up any wickets in the match, raising questions. But now, he has done his job really well, making the skipper happy.
Kuldeep takes Rachin Ravindra
In his very first delivery of the spell, he bowled a googly that dismissed the well-settled batter Rachin Ravindra. The delivery was a back-of-the-hand ball that landed slightly back of length around the fourth-stump line. Ravindra, attempting to play a shot on the off side, was cramped for room due to the deceptive pace and turn. As he tried to adjust his shot at the last moment, he ended up in an awkward position, resulting in the ball hitting the top of off stump and Rachin had to go after scoring 37 runs.
Kuldeep owns Williamson again
Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Kane Williamson by luring him into a mistimed shot that resulted in a simple return catch. Williamson attempted a flick. However, he appeared to be early on the shot, leading to the ball being played well in front of his body. It gently lobbed back to Kuldeep on his right and he took an easy catch. In ODIs against Kane Williamson, Kuldeep Yadav has managed to dismiss him three times while conceding 55 runs off 68 balls. Kuldeep has kept Williamson’s average to 18.33 and restricted his strike rate to 80.88, with 31 dot balls bowled, accounting for 45.6% of the deliveries.
Great captaincy by Rohit Sharma
One must admit that Rohit Sharma’s show of captaincy was great as well. The skipper first brought in mystery spinner, Varun Chakravarty, to put pressure during the powerplay, Rachin survived once during Rachin’s spell, when Shreyas Iyer dropped his catch. However, soon after, Rohit, who usually brings Axar Patel right after the powerplay, decided to give the ball to wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who didn’t disappoint and finished the biggest headache of the Indian team.
New Zealand dominated powerplay overs
New Zealand started their innings against India by scoring 69 runs for the loss of one wicket during the powerplay (first 10 overs). Rachin Ravindra played aggressively, scoring 29 runs, while Will Young added 15 runs. New Zealand reached 50 runs in under seven overs. However, India managed to break the opening partnership by dismissing Young, which eventually put pressure on Rachin Ravindra as well.
