Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders young chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav displayed a sensational performance against Rajasthan Royals last night to take his team more closer to playoffs. After the match Kuldeep revealed that the presence of legendary Shane Warne in the Rajasthan Royals dug-out motivated him to produce his career-best performance in the Indian Premier League.
Ahead of the RR game, Kuldeep didn’t have a great outing in this season as he took only 9 wickets in 12 matches with an economy rate of 8.5. As per Kuldeep he was desperate to do something for his team in front for Aussie spin legend.
“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 at the post-match conference.
India’s ace spinner in limited overs formats, Kuldeep said Warne also gave him tips for the upcoming series in England.
“I discussed with him after the match. I have already started my planning for the upcoming England series. But it was a brief conversation. Maybe after the IPL, I will again get a chance to talk to him,” Kuldeep said.
Kuldeep made a wonderful Test debut, against Australia in Dharamsala in March 2017, when he returned with figures of 4-68 in the Australian first innings but since then he has played just one more Test.
He has been named in the next month’s one-off Test against Afghanistan in Bengaluru.
Insisting that he is a wicket-taking bowler, Kuldeep said his defensive mind set against Mumbai Indians in their previous game in Kolkata may have cost him dear.
“Maybe my mind set became a bit defensive and thought of restricting the flow of runs. But I’m not the kind of a bowler who stops the flow of runs. If I attack at the batsmen, most of the times I get wickets. My strength is to keep looking for wickets,” he said.
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 Hyderbad tomorrow to take on leaders Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last round-robin league match on May 19.
“We have to win the next match straightway. That’s important for us, then only we stand a chance to qualify,” he signed off.