Young wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav hogged the limelight in Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) convincing six-wicket victory against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 match at Eden Gardens on Tuesday night. It was Kuldeep Yadav's night as he ran through the RR batting line-up, helping his team restrict Rajasthan Royals to a modest total. Kuldeep, who was adjudged Man of the Match, registered his career best IPL figures (4/20) and credited Australia bowling legend Shane Warner for his improved bowling performances. He further added that Warner's presence in the field makes him want to produce a good show.
"I'm always a big fan of him (Warne). He has been my idol. I always get a different kind of motivation when I play in front of him. I wanted to put up a good show in front of him," Kuldeep said.
Until last night, Kuldeep had only nine wickets from 12 outings in IPL 2018 and now he has 13 wickets from as many matches courtesy his career-best performance against RR that earned Kolkata Knight Riders an important victory.
First, he castled Ajinkya Rahane with a googly, and then dismissed the in-form Jos Buttler.
In his next two overs, Kuldeep got Stuart Binny stumped with another googly before accounting for Ben Stokes.
Kuldeep said Buttler's wicket was special for him as it proved to be turning point of the game.
"If he had played for 10 more overs, the score would have been 170-180. Everything went according to my plan. For me it was the best wicket," he said.
KKR will head to Hyderabad on Thursday to take on table-toppers SunRisers Hyderabad in the last round-robin league match on Saturday.
"We have to win the next match straightway. That's important for us, then only we stand a chance to qualify," Kuldeep remarked.
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