Pakistan batters couldn't read me: Kuldeep Yadav

NEW DELHI: Indian spinner

Kuldeep Yadav

reflected on his performance in the marquee World Cup clash against Pakistan, where he created confusion in the minds of Pakistani batsmen, leading them to play high-risk sweep shots despite struggling to read his deliveries.
Kuldeep took the crucial wickets of Saud Shakeel and

Iftikhar Ahmed

, both of whom attempted the sweep shot against the left-arm wrist spinner, leading to Pakistan's batting collapse. He admitted that his deliveries were difficult for the batsmen to read, and they were uncertain whether to sweep or play conventionally.

Kuldeep mentioned an interesting aspect of his dismissal of Iftikhar Ahmed, saying, "No, I didn't plan that I would try to bowl Iftikhar around the legs, but since I bowl the wrong 'un (googly), I tried that, but it was a wide ball and also a bit on the shorter side, which made it difficult for him to sweep."

He described the wicket as "lucky" and acknowledged that this kind of delivery puts pressure on batsmen. Kuldeep mentioned that he wanted to dismiss Iftikhar in a better manner.
He also talked about how he got to bowl that crucial over, saying, "I thought they would try to sweep as they are known to play that shot. But they didn't take a chance, but that extra over that I bowled after discussing with skipper, both wickets came in that over."

Kuldeep explained the importance of Mohammed Siraj's breakthrough in getting

Babar Azam

out and how it helped the team. He believed that 270 would have been a challenging target to chase on the

Motera

track.
The spinner discussed the nature of the pitch, stating that there wasn't much help for pacers or spinners and that it was essential to restrict the batsmen from getting room to hit and squeeze the run flow.
When asked about the delivery he bowled to dismiss Babar Azam in the 2019 World Cup, Kuldeep downplayed it, saying it was a good ball that got hyped because of the World Cup. He mentioned that he has dismissed players with similar deliveries in bilateral matches and emphasized the importance of bowling in one area to force batsmen to make mistakes.
Regarding his preference for bowling in the first or second session, Kuldeep playfully remarked, "My bowling under lights has always been good. I always want to bowl second, but what to do, as Rohit bhai doesn't listen to me."
He concluded by expressing his happiness at maintaining an unbeaten record against Pakistan in matches he has played and discussed the excitement of playing in such a high-pressure atmosphere. "To be honest, I played 3-4 games against them and lucky to win all of them. For me, you saw the crowd, atmosphere you want to do well. In 2019, best moment was playing against Pakistan."
(With PTI inputs)