Indian left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav revealed details of his talk with teammate Yuzvendra Chahal before the third and final T20I of the three-match series against South Africa. Kuldeep thanked Chahal for his consistent support, highlighting their friendship throughout the years. The left-arm wrist-spinner made a fantastic comeback to form in T20Is, recording his best figures for Team India in the format on Thursday against South Africa. He took five wickets for 17 runs in 2.5 overs to help the visitors win the final game and tie the series 1-1.
In a recent video posted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on X, Suryakumar Yadav was seen having a conversation with Kuldeep in which the stand-in skipper asked the spinner whether having a chat with teammate Chahal helped him pick up five wickets.
A fifer on birthday
Series-levelling win
Equalling @ImRo45‘s record of T20I tonsPost-win chat with #TeamIndia captain @surya_14kumar & @imkuldeep18– By @RajalArora
Full Interview #SAvIND
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 15, 2023
“Chahal bhai had a long flight so we didn’t speak much. Just met him last evening where he told me not to change too much about bowling. Even when things weren’t great 2-3 years ago, he was always there for me. Hopefully, we will try to do well if we play together in ODIs,” Kuldeep said in a video posted by BCCI.
Kuldeep also opened up about how he bagged a fifer.
“Wasn’t thinking much. The idea was to bowl to a particular length and then I observed that the pitch is slow and the quicker ones were gripping a bit. So I was just mixing my flighted deliveries with quicker ones. I did get a few lucky wickets as the ball was keeping low. Once I got three wickets, I thought let’s go for picking five wickets,” the left-arm wrist-spinner said.
Then it was Kuldeep’s turn to ask Suryakumar about how the captain felt after scoring a record-equalling 4th century in the T20I format. Surya revealed how he went about striding his innings to ensure he batted for as long and stayed rooted to the crease.
“Whenever I walk out to bat, I don’t think about the amount of runs I have to score. I just want to go out there and enjoy my batting. I like to sprint out to the middle and get ready to face the first ball. It was good to get the Player of the Match and Player of the Series award by coming out of my comfort zone overseas. All the success reached God, God is great,” he added.
Suryakumar’s record-levelling fourth T20I ton and Kuldeep Yadav’s five-wicket haul helped India beat Proteas by 106 runs in the third T20I to end the series 1-1.
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