"This is Kuldeep Yadav's favorite hunting ground" - Saba Karim hails left-arm spinner's dominating spell in 5th IND vs ENG Test
Former Indian cricketer Saba Karim praised left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav for his exceptional bowling performance in the fifth Test against England in Dharamshala on Thursday, March 7.
Kuldeep, who is playing his third match in succession, has picked up five of the eight wickets to fall in two sessions of play on Day 1. Introduced into the attack in the 18th over, Kuldeep Yadav took only six deliveries to claim his first wicket in the form of Ben Duckett.
He then wrapped up the session by outfoxing Ollie Pope, ending in a stumping by Dhruv Jurel. The well-settled Zak Crawley was undone by a delivery that spun a mile after pitching while the struggling middle-order pair of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes were dismissed in quick succession.
Saba Karim emphasized Kuldeep Yadav's variations, something which the likes of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, and Ben Stokes fell prey to, as they were unable to read it accurately off his hand.
"Ben Duckett was unable to read Kuldeep Yadav's delivery from the release, which is when you end up being a lot more aggressive which was not required at all. If you're not able to read his variations at the point of release, you're putting yourself in a lot of trouble. That is what all England batters need to be wary of because this is his favorite hunting ground,” Karim said on Sports 18.
The bowler made his Test debut at this very venue during the fourth Test of the 2017 Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. He had claimed four wickets in his maiden innings, and despite impressive and consistent outings, he has had to wait on the sidelines for his opportunities.
Kuldeep Yadav becomes the fastest bowler to 50 Test wickets in terms of number of deliveries taken
The spinner engineered England's collapse in the fourth Test in Ranchi as well with a spell of 4/22. With his mesmerizing spell in the series finale, he has reached the landmark of 50 Test wickets in his 12th Test appearance.
Although the record for quickest to 50 wickets in terms of appearances currently lies with Ravichandran Ashwin, who took nine Tests to reach the landmark figure, Kuldeep Yadav is the new record holder concerning number of deliveries taken to achieve the same feat.
The left-arm spinner took 1871 deliveries to claim 50 wickets in the format, bettering Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah's tally of 2205 and 2465 deliveries, respectively.