Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra named Kuldeep Yadav as his Player of the Day for his all-round performance on the second day of the first Test of Team India against Bangladesh.
Yadav first played a 40-run knock in Chattogram on Thursday, December 15, and helped India put up a 404-run total in their first innings and then that with registered a spell of 4/33 as Bangladesh were reduced to 133/8 on the day before getting all out for 150 as well. Notably, Yadav claimed another fifer, finishing the spell with 5 for 40 in his 16 overs as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra applauded Kuldeep Yadav’s performance on Day 2 of the Chattogram Test, saying:
“There were chances for India to stumble slightly because Axar had already gotten out, and Kuldeep Yadav had to join Ashwin. The way he (Yadav) batted, he said you can bowl bouncers to Shreyas Iyer but I don’t have any such problem. He scored 40 runs and has already picked up four wickets. So the Player of the Day is Kuldeep Yadav.”
Team India have the upperhand in the 1st Test against Bangladesh
He continued: “To play 114 balls, it is not a surface where you feel a wicket might fall off every ball, it is not that difficult to bat on, but it is not that straightforward as well. You need to apply yourself. You need to forget the previous delivery, that the ball turned and you got beaten, but you are not going to play a bad shot. When a bouncer comes, sometimes close to the body, you play it away softly, but you don’t accept defeat. So the 40 runs he scored, I thought that was incredible, in fact they were game-changing.”
However, Kuldeep Yadav added a 92-run eighth-wicket stand with Ravichandran Ashwin, where the latter hit 58 runs, with two fours and as many sixes as well. The veteran has also stated that the batters found it difficult against him as he delivered the ball at a good pace alongside pitching them in the right spots as well.
“This was not where it ended. In bowling, you expect that Ashwin will roll his arm over and pick up wickets but he hasn’t picked up even one wicket till now. Kuldeep Yadav has picked up four wickets,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
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