IPL 2018: Kuldeep Yadav reveals the turning point of the match against RR

Kuldeep Yadav took the crucial wicket of Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane. Image Source: File Pic

Kolkata: In this season Kolkata Knight Riders star chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav took the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane two times when the team needed it the most in must win games. KKR won the eliminator against RR by 25 runs last night at the Eden Gardens and Kuldeep thinks that Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket turned things around in KKR’s favour.

“I don’t know, seriously. Yes, it was very important to get that wicket because Ajju bhai (Rahane) was batting well. I didn’t do anything different, just bowled a googly in a good area,” said Yadav in the post match press conference.

It was his sole wicket last night but eventually it came in his final over and not only that he just gave two wickets in that over to end his spell 1/18 for 4 overs. At one stage RR were on 109 for 1 in 15 overs but after Rahane’s dismissal they only reached 144 for 4 in their allotted 20 overs time. Beside Rahane’s 46 the other scorers for Rajasthan were Rahul Tripathi (20) and Sanju Samson (50).

When Samson sent one from Piyush Chawla into the hands of Javon Scantlebury-Searles in the 17th over, RR were staring at a defeat and KKR a turnaround. “Generally, when you have so many wickets in hand and need around 60 in six overs, you are expected to win. But credit to KKR for the way they bowled,” said RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane.

“We thought 170 was chaseable. And we got partnerships going too. But we needed someone to bat through. Unfortunately, Sanju got out…. we needed to have one batsman who would bat through,” he said.

For KKR, the conversation at the innings’ second time-out was different. “We knew if we could get a wicket we would be in with a chance,” said Yadav.