"Whenever there were problems, the ball was given to Kuldeep Yadav and he delivered" - Aakash Chopra lauds DC spinner's performance

Aakash Chopra has picked Kuldeep Yadav as the star performer for the Delhi Capitals (DC) in their IPL 2022 encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Yadav returned figures of 4/35 as Rishabh Pant's side registered an emphatic 44-run win. The wrist-spinner was duly chosen as the Player of the Match for his match-winning spell.

While reviewing the DC-KKR encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra was effusive in his praise for Yadav. He said:

"We saw an amazing performance from Kuldeep. It was a high-scoring encounter and whenever there were problems, the ball was given to Kuldeep Yadav and he delivered. Kuldeep has already made significant contributions in this tournament."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Yadav showed his worth to KKR, with the franchise having kept him on the sidelines over the last couple of years. Chopra elaborated:

"Kuldeep Yadav said that I was there with you for three years, I was asking you to release me but you were not releasing me, you were not playing me as well, kept me on the bench, today I came in front of you and I showed you what stuff I am made of."

Yadav was one of KKR's star performers in his first three seasons with the franchise. However, with his declining numbers and the emergence of Varun Chakravarthy as the franchise's premier Indian spinner, the left-arm wrist-spinner was predominantly benched in the last two years.

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"Kuldeep Yadav is held back till the end nowadays" - Aakash Chopra

Kuldeep Yadav took an excellent catch off his own bowling to dismiss Umesh Yadav [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra highlighted that Pant has even used Yadav as a weapon against the opposition big-hitters. He explained:

"Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets. He was absolutely sensational. He bowled at different stages, it was not that he did restrictive bowling in the middle overs, he is held back till the end nowadays, earlier it was for Pollard and here for Russell."

The 44-year-old concluded by pointing out that Yadav's four-wicket haul sealed the match in the Delhi Capitals' favor. Chopra observed:

"He dismissed Shreyas Iyer, he picked up wickets one after the other. Four wickets in a four-over spell in which the first over was actually expensive. After that, continuously picking up wickets and two-three wickets in the last over, once even running and taking a diving catch himself, that was actually the final nail in the coffin."

Shreyas Iyer danced down the track against Yadav, only to be stumped by Pant after getting deceived by a googly. The Uttar Pradesh spinner then dismissed Pat Cummins, Sunil Narine and Umesh Yadav in the 16th over of the KKR innings to all but finish the match as a contest.