[Watch] Kuldeep Yadav takes the crucial wicket of David Warner with a crisp caught-and-bowled effort

Kuldeep Yadav had a sigh of relief after taking the key wicket of David Warner in India's 2023 World Cup opener against Australia on Sunday (October 8).

On the third ball of the 17th over, Kuldeep bowled a quick ball that went slightly straight with the arm. The Australian, perhaps anticipating it to turn more or come a bit slowly got the ball to loop in the air off the inside half of his bat. It went quickly and the spinner kept his eyes set on it to grab it near his waist.

Here are a couple of videos of Warner's wicket who departed after 41 runs off 52 balls.

The left-arm wrist spinner was introduced in the 13th over when Warner had built a 49-run partnership with Steve Smith. The duo attacked India's pacers on the spin-friendly wicket and played out Ravichandran Ashwin calmly at the other end.

Warner, after a brisk start, slowed in the middle overs and miscued a few shots against Kuldeep too, one even creating a difficult caught-and-bowled chance.

"Kuldeep Yadav could be one of the top wicket-takers" - Aakash Chopra

Before the World Cup started, cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra had predicted the spinner to be one of the top wicket-takers in the ongoing edition.

“I feel leg-spinners will do well in the tournament," he said on his Youtube channel. The world’s best leg-spinner thus has to feature in the list. It would be interesting to see how Rohit Sharma uses Kuldeep Yadav. First, he will utilize him in the middle overs. You could see him bowling after 40 overs as well. He might bowl at least 2-3 overs.

“If you defend him, it becomes easy and you might not lose your wicket. But when you go after him, you have to read the ball from Kuldeep’s hand. And if you don’t connect properly, you could end up finding a fielder. Kuldeep Yadav could be one of the top wicket-takers. He could be the highest wicket-taker as well,” Chopra added.

Since the wicket, India have put Australia on the backfoot. The run-rate has slowed down and Rohit Sharma is rotating his three spinners from both ends.

You can catch the live proceedings here.