The last two days have been nothing less than a dream for Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav, as he has helped the Indian team register wins against Pakistan and Sri Lanka on back-to-back days. He registered his career-best figure against Pakistan and took 5/25 to help India win.
Later on Tuesday, he helped the Indian team defend a low total and took 4/43 as India won the game by 41 runs and qualified for the finals of the tournament. Kuldeep Yadav is now the joint-highest wicket-taker in the Asia Cup 2023.
He has taken nine wickets in four games at an average of 11.33. On the other hand, with his impressive performance against Sri Lanka last night, the wrist spinner achieved a big landmark in his career. Kuldeep completed 150 ODI wickets and became the fastest Indian spinner to achieve this feat.
He did it in his 88th ODI game, and overall, he is the seventh-fastest to do so. Kuldeep is also the second-fastest bowler after Mohammed Shami, who did it in 80 innings. So far, the wrist spinner has taken 150 wickets in 88 matches at an average of 25.64, including two fifers and a best of 6/25.
He is also the only Indian bowler to take two hat-tricks in 50-over cricket. Speaking of the game, India batted first and were bundled out for 213 runs in 49.1 overs. Rohit Sharma started well with a 48-ball 53, but none of the other batters could make a mark.
India lost all ten of their wickets to spinners. Dunith Wellalage took 5/40, and Charith Asalanka took 4/18. It looked like Sri Lanka would end up chasing it easily. But the Indian bowlers also did a pretty good job and bowled the hosts out for 172 runs in 41.3 overs to win by 41 runs. Jasprit Bumrah (2/30) and Ravindra Jadeja (2/33) also took two wickets each.
